Koi-Koi
by A-Marlene-S
Summary: A cover-up, to cover-up the actual cover-up. Might as well make this a game on who can figure out everyone's secrets. Konoha experienced a heavy blow for the superhero community. So much so, that everyone that attended Konoha Shinobi Academy had to be transferred out to different schools until further notice. Now let's see if U.A. can play a game.
1. Chapter 1

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

"_A cover-up? This goes aga-"_

"_I know, dammit! I need you… ugh… We need you to cover up what happened here to protect those involved… If news got out unlicensed heroes used their quirks without the proper documents, even if, the situation called for it, all of them would be persecuted and their possible futures of becoming pro-heroes… without this dangling over their heads…" Tsunade Senju, aka Slug Princess or as she is better known as The Legendary Sucker, the now… the former head of Konoha Shinobi Academy. She bit her tongue back and bowed deeply to the Worlds Number #1 Pro-Hero. Her advisors, close colleagues and so many others followed her actions, all of them silently pleading for the hero's help. "As the Head of K.S.A., I will take full responsibility for what happened, but I will not allow my students to take the fall for doing everything in their power to protect not only their loved ones but also their home."_

"…_If it weren't for the fact you saved my life after… that fight and everyone was miraculously brought back to life… I would have allowed things go with how things as of right now. Even so, I find it extremely commendable that such young heroes in training to do everything in their power to take the call of doing what every hero should do. All heroes in my eyes…"_

-.-

"**All Might defeated the Leader of the Akatsuki in an epic fight…"**

"**It appeared, despite the damage… there is no death count except for the Leader…"**

"**Massive struggle…"**

"**It is noted unlicensed quirk users from K.S.A. were part of the battle. However, they were working on defense and evacuating civilians, under the direct order of Slug Princess. She is taking full responsibility for their actions as their part of the invasion…"**

"**Slug's hero license, along with several others, have been temporarily suspended…"**

"**KSA has been destroyed, even it is built up again, it will remain closed until a full investigation is done. Even so, reconstruction will be primarily focused on rebuilding the Village of Konoha…"**

"**Fortunately, schools all over Japan have opened their doors for students of K.S.A. until a decision is made or to remain there if…"**

"**All records of the attack are concealed to protect those involved…"**

-.-

Shikamaru Nara started at his reflection in the bathroom's mirror. Memories kept replaying in his mind, rethinking of all the strategies and wondering what would have happened if he had done something different. With a heavy sigh, he grabbed a hair tie from his back pocket and a brush that was placed on top of the sink. He brushed his hair upward to tie up his hair in a typical manner his family his known for. Seeing that his hair looked presentable, he checked on his uniform… he hates the U.A. uniform. He misses K.S.A.'s uniform…no matter how much he once nagged about it…

With a grumble under his breath, Shikamaru left the bathroom and walked through the tiny yet modest apartment to head over to the kitchen. He and his roommates had recently moved in due to having to switch schools and they needed to find a place that's closer to their new school. With how things are going back home, it's better off for them to stay in the small apartment until… everything gets cleared up back home. Until then, the three have to divvy up with the allowance that is sent to them by their respective families.

'Choji's allowance will make up our food bill… Ino will take care of our phone and necessary necessities…and I'll deal with the rent and random crap.' Shikamaru pulled out a small leather-bound notebook and a pencil that looked like a small branch or twig. He made a breakdown of what he and his friends are going to buy or pay for their time in the city. 'At least I managed to find my secret pile of cash… it will pay for up to six months of rent with will al-"

"Shikamaru! I can't find my hair ties!"

'We need more hair ties…' Shikamaru flipped a page and wrote down the item.

"Shikamaru… could we make a quick stop to get snacks?"

'And snacks…'

-.-

Izuku Midoriya called out to his mom as he closed the door behind himself. It was another school day and he was looking forward to it. He paused when he saw the door from the apartment next door suddenly open. Far as he knew, that apartment has been vacant for an uncertain amount of time. When did they get new neighbors?

"Shikamaru! Give me your hair tie! I can't find any of mine!" Someone called from inside the apartment. Female.

"What a drag…" A teen that looked to be Izuku's age walked out of the apartment, untying his hair tie which caused the hair to spike out in different angles. No wonder he kept it tied…

What caught Izuku's student attention is the fact the other teen is wearing a U.A. uniform. New student? No, not this late and break is almost close. Perhaps this Shikamaru character moved in with his family and is part of general or support classes? Maybe.

"You're rambling."

"Huh? AH!" Izuku let out a screech at the fact he got caught staring at the new neighbors and felt embarrassment run through him. Of course, it occurred during his habit of projecting out his thoughts. "Sorry… I just… I didn't know we have neighbors and I never saw you around U.A. either…"

Izuku shook his head in an attempt to clear his head, he reached out his hand towards the other teen's direction. "I'm Midoriya Izuku."

"Nara Shikamaru." Shikamaru lazily shook Izuku's hand, considering it to be too much trouble. However, from that single handshake, he could tell a lot about the green-haired teen. The let go of each other's hands and the Nara leaned against the railing with a tired sigh. "My friends and I are transferring to U.A. … You go there right?"

"I do!" Izuku's back straightened, his earlier thoughts being more or less right and wrong. "If you want, I could take you and your friends to U.A.? I mean, if you want to of course! I don't want to overst-"

"Shikamaru, hair tie."

Izuku eyes widened when he saw a long-haired blonde walked out Shikamaru's apartment, also wearing a U.A.'s uniform. He watched as the blonde took a hair tie from Shikamaru's outstretched hand and promptly tied up her hair.

"Don't lose it, Ino. It's my last one." Shikamaru grumbled.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Ino snorted, she promptly fixed her hair in her preferred style. She saw Shikamaru pull out his notebook and promptly asked. "You wrote everything down? I don't want to end up coming back and we forgot something?"

"Groceries, toilet paper, dish soap, laundry detergent, hair ties… We have to make sure they are good decent material. I don't like those with elastic in them… not as useful." Shikamaru scratched his head, grumbling at his ever-untamable hair. The reason why he preferred it to keep it tied. However, the scratching caused some hair to fall over his face. "What a drag…"

"Choji, hurry up! We have to go!" Ino called out into the apartment. It appeared she didn't take notice of Izuku.

Izuku blinked several times as he saw another teen also dressed in the same school uniform, he couldn't hold back a smile as the… the larger teen kept apologizing to his friends as he carried three backpacks filled to the brim. With what? Who knows.

"I'm sorry, I'm nervous and I overeat when I'm ner-"

Shikamaru covered Ino's mouth before she could say anything rash. "We know, so are w-Ow! Ino blasted woman!"

Shikamaru pulled his hand away from Ino to see the troublesome woman had left him with a bite mark. 'At least she didn't draw blood…'

"Oh, hush, you shouldn't have done that in the first place. Now…you!"

"Me?" Izuku nearly jumped out of his own shoes when Ino pointed at him with an expression of complete hysteria.

"Yes, yes you." Ino walked toward Izuku, a smile ever-present on her lightly glossed lips. She raised her hand towards Izuku's face and took a soft hold on his chin so that he looked directly into her eyes. "Could you show us the way to U.A. We are ne…Hello? I think I lost him?"

"Tch… you didn't even use your quirk on him."

"I know! Now how are we going to get to U.A.!"

-.-

Izuku shifted nervously in his seat, waiting for class to start. He… doesn't remember arriving at the school. He remembers suddenly waving goodbye to Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji before he walked into the school. Something about them having a teacher escort them in with their needed paperwork and I.D. cards. No memory of getting from point A to point B.

Maybe one of them has a quirk that erases memories or something of that sort? If so, how did it happened? Oh! Physical Touch! Yes, that is a high possibility that happened…oh no… What if they read or got deep into his mind! Or… was it one of the others who were the cause of his temporary amnesia? It is a massive possibility of that being the reason for it!

Izuku pulled out his notebook and began to write down whatever information he got from meeting Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Choji Akimichi. The only thing he got is possible mind control or erasing memories. He was going to write something down when he took a deeper look into the names.

**Shika**maru Nara

**Ino **Yamanaka

**Cho**ji Akimichi

Izuku slammed his fist against his desk as the realization hit him. "InoShikaCho! That would explain so…wait… that wouldn't make sense. There are several generations of InoShikaCho, compromising of three individuals from each family to create a super combo superhero team. They are known to going to an extremely private school up north, in their home village. Why would they be transferring here?"

"InoShikaCho? I take it you didn't hear what happened, Izuko…"

Izuku broke out of his ramblings to looked up to see Ojiro, he wore he could see deep circles around his eyes. "Heard about what? What happened?"

Ojiro used the heel of his right arm to rub his right eye. "…I'm not surprised you don't know about it. It happened when we were under attack at U.S.J…. Anyway, what brought up InoShikaCho?"

"InoShikaCho? Pro-Hero group #14, amazing heroes, they specialize in stalling villains and search and rescue. Highly sought after but always maintain close to home." Tenya interjected, hearing the spectacular name of a highly knowledgeable group of pro-heroes who share the same rank. "I take it you heard what happened to their home village?"

"Er… no, what happened? Is everything okay?"

"I don't know the full details… the media has mainly been covering what has been happening to us and just showing the bare minimum of what occurred to Konoha." Ojiro answered with a frown on his face.

"Apparently someone blew up the village… but the only death is the main villain."

"…What? How?"

"That's the funny part… No o-"

Izuku mouth nearly hung open as he listened to his classmates began to go over what they know that had occurred to Konoha and their 'infamous' Hero Academy. How did this not make national news? In **bold **letters! Then again… the school has been dealing with its own issues… so many issues. What stood out is the fact that apparently, All Might managed to defeat the villains and to change the mind of the leader to do something grand. Whatever that was, sure has been something if the place is just a giant crater now…

Plus… nothing was adding up. It was clear the media is holding back on information and something even bigger had occurred…

The timing was too convenient…

And… All Might wasn't even at the location for this story to work out fully. Sure, there are small windows of opportunity this story to stick together but still…

The door slid open to reveal their homeroom teacher. Everyone quickly shuffled to their seats and said good morning to him.

"I have news…" Aizawa yawned out, but everyone in the room could pick up how tense he was and the room began to feel tense. News coming from him is never good news. "We got three new transfer students…"

Pause…

The class erupted between cheers and loud whispers, all of them wondering who their new classmates are. That would explain why there are three extra seats in the classroom though…

"Is one of them a girl? I hope it is! We need more girls!"

"I wonder if she's hot?"

"You better not scare any of them off, Mineta!"

"I wonder which school they're transferring from."

"Ugh… fucking great, more morons."

"You can come in now…" Aizawa called out, only just loud enough for whoever was standing outside the classroom.

The door opened and everyone held their breaths. Walking in are three teens their age all wearing the typical school uniform. Some of the boys began to swoon over the lone female in the trio while some of the girls began to giggle at the boys.

"Introduce yourselves…"

"Yamanaka Ino-"

"Nara Shikamaru-"

"Akimichi Choji-"

"Please take care of us!" The trio said in the same time, Ino grabbed hold of the boy's ties to make the bow along with her as they introduced themselves.

Before anyone could say anything, Ino bowed deeper towards Izuku's direction. "Izuku Midoriya, I humbly apologize for using my quirk on you. We needed directions to the school, and you were out of commission. In my family's name, I promise you that I will not use my quirk on your until a certain time arises for it."

Izuku blushed brightly as everyone turned their gazes towards him, several of his male classmates looked at him with jealousy. Their minds went one way or another, and they were assuming the worse… or the best depending on how one looks at it.

"What the fuck did you do to the nerd?" Katsuki cursed out to the new kid.

"If you guys want to talk about quirks, do it at another time." Aizawa interrupted any more possible questions. He really wanted to lay down in his sleeping bag and fall asleep. "We have a big day ahead of us. You three…. Pick whatever seats that are available."

The seats that were available were behind Momo, Shoto, and Rikido. With that, Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji made way to their seats. One particular grape haired shape student attempt to grab the attention of Ino but was met with resistance when Momo smacked him with her book. "I said don't scare them."

"But I wanted to introduce myself to her…"

"What a drag. Ino switch seats with Choji."

"Long as it's far away from the perv. Move over Choji!"

"Please stop pulling my hair Ino…"

It quickly became clear the three transfer students have a long history together as they made small jabs at each other and were… comfortable in each other's presence. Unlike some people they know…

Shikamaru stretched out his arms across his new desk, ignoring everything around him. A good bunch of his new classmates began to throw out questions towards his and the other's direction. Luckily for him, Ino took center stage and answered to the best of her ability. All the while dancing around the subject on what exactly is her quirk and what exactly she did to Izuku.

'I want to go back home…' Shikamaru thought to himself as he let out a yawn. He didn't bother paying attention when someone new walked into the classroom, making everyone to go quiet again. He was so preoccupied in his own thoughts, that it was until the teen sitting in front of him had his hand extended out to hand him a small poster board.

Shikamaru took it with an audible thanks and began to wonder what today's activity is going to be.

"Today… you will be picking your hero names!"

"Oh, no…."

To be continued…

R/R.


	2. Chapter 2

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

Warning: Characters are OOC!

-.-

**Shikamaru Nara**

Age: 15

Height: 5'5

Blood Type: AB

Birthday: September 22

Quirk: Darkness/Shadow Manipulation

**Ino Yamanaka**

Age: 15

Height: 5'3

Blood Type: B

Birthday: September 23

Quirk: Mind Transfer/Poison Flower Petal

**Choji Akimichi**

Age: 15

Height: 5'6

Blood Type: B

Birthday: May 1

Quirk: Fat/Calorie Manipulation

**-.-**

"_-our clans are known for producing the highly known team, InoShikaCho… Right now, our fathers still retain that name and with that in mind…"_

-.-

"The symbol of my clan is the bush clover, with that in mind…" Ino slammed her poster onto the podium with an expression of utmost determination. "Lespedeza! Until that time comes to take over my father position in InoShikaCho!"

"Marvelous! A perfect way to pay homage to your clan!" Midnight wiped away tears from a handkerchief before she clapped with approval. "I approve!"

Ino let out a tired sigh, her smile only seemed to intensify her mood. She gave a short bow before she walked back to her seat while ignoring her new classmates. From the back of her mind, she felt her mind suddenly become heavy. As much she wants to take over her family's legacy, she knows she's not personally ready for that responsibility.

It was only when she felt a strong arm guiding her back to her seat was when Ino mind snapped back to reality. She let out a smile to Shikamaru as he made sure she got back to her seat safely. "Thank you, Shika."

Shikamaru gave her a thumbs up before he headed up towards the front of the class with a grumble and a poster board of his own. "What a drag… first day here and this crap."

Shikamaru's comment many to question his motives while a certain few couldn't help but smirk.

Lazily, Shikamaru placed the poster board on top of the podium for everyone to see what he wrote on it. If people were not questioning Nara's motives then, they are most likely are right now. The only thing that is on his board… looked to be a cloud. "Cloud Watcher."

"Oh? What made you think up that name?" Midnight asked, perplexed with the name.

"Cloud watching. I like to go cloud watching."

"Taking into account your clan's background and I take it you are training to take over your father's hero name?" Midnight asked, placing one hand on her hip and the other pointing at Shikamaru with one of her various weapons.

"…Yes."

"I approve! Welcome Cloud Watcher!"

Shikamaru grumbled under his breath as the class clapped at the announcement of his hero-name. Even if it meant it was only temporarily. He would have preferred to call himself Fawn... but that is a name reserved for only certain people to call him as such. Walking back to his seat, he made eye-contact with a classmate that has competitive red eyes. The other guy attempted to glare down at him from his seat but the Nara only let out a yawn before making his way back to his own seat. That only seemed to anger the ash blond to no end.

"Going up, Choji?" Shikamaru asked his friend, as he took his seat.

"I think so…" Choji stood up and almost timidly walked up towards the front of the classroom. Several of his new classmates had to redo their hero names until Midnight approved of it. Looking down at his name before he showed it to the entire class. "Shoku. This plays along with my clan's known quirk and massive food chain."

"Another homage to one's family, this is just making me sentimental… I approve!"

-.-

Shikamaru leaned against his chair with his arms crossed over his chest. He ignored the fact how some purple-haired gremlin is staring at Ino, who is sitting on top of Nara's desk, while Choji had pulled up a chair to sit next to him. Nothing out of the norm for the three. The three had known each other since they were in diapers, sticking together due to family traditions and well… the three tolerated each other enough to not kill or main the other… to a point.

"Sadly, K.S.A. is on the bottom of the list of being rebuilt of our home village. Understandably so… Our families wanted to ensure we still received a good education and get out minds off what had happened." Ino wept, Shikamaru and Choji internally applauded their friend's performance. She wasn't exactly lying or telling the truth either, but everyone appeared to be eating up everything she was saying. "Since U.A. is such an amazing school and hearing that our savior is here, none of us could have passed up the opportunity."

'Oh, kami…' Shikamaru couldn't help but inwardly shake his head at how Ino was just now was now overdoing the story.

"What are you guy's quirks?"

'Straight to the point, eh?' Shikamaru thought, he looked around to see everyone in the class and even the teacher, who is still in that yellow sleeping bag, staring at them. "Eh… too troublesome to say."

"Is every-fucking-thing troublesome?" The Ashy Blonde, Katsuki Bakugo, Shikamaru was told to be by the spiky-tooth redhead, Eijiro Kirishima, to be careful of.

"Yeah." Shikamaru responded with a deadpanned expression, only causing Katsuki to show his annoyance at the response he was given. This caused several of his classmates to nervously looked between them while one or two couldn't help but laugh. That laughter only seemed to intensify when the Nara leaned back in his chair and close his eyes, soft snores only seemed to show his disinterest on the entire conversation.

"Haha, wow… Now I've seen everything." Pink hair'ed girl, Mina Ashido, laughed. "Bakugo just got told."

"Did he…FUCKING ASSWHOLE WAKE-UP!"

Shikamaru didn't bother to open his eyes again, using his quirk, he could tell Bakugo is trying to get to him but Eijiro and Denki were holding him back. He did take note how the rest of their classmates were trying to convince the vicious blonde from attacking him, but it appeared everything went in from one ear to another. Why does this scene seem so familiar to him?

Oh right… It was normally him and Choji holding back someone before they did something stupid. Namely Naruto or Ino…. More times Ino than anyone else.

"Shikamaru… what did I tell you about pissing off someone on the first day…?"

Oh, that sickeningly sweet voice that promises future pain…

-.-

Shikamaru grumbled as he rubbed his head where Ino had slammed the spine of a book onto. It was lunchtime and some of his classmates had invited them to eat with them. So far, the only one that seemed tempting is with Izuku, despite the fact the kid has a tendency to mutter off into space, the kid knows his stuff.

Ino decided to hang out with the other girls, something about wanting to know the latest gossip and who knows what else.

As for Choji, he's actually started to talk to Koji Koda and Rikido Sato. Judging how their conversations are going, Shikamaru has nothing to worry about them. That's good to know.

Everything seems… to be getting along well…

"Nara-san! Have you looked over the list Aizawa-sensei gave you?" Tenya Iida stated out in a professional tone, fixing his glasses as he watched the new kid lazily looked up at him.

"Yeah… I already picked one out." Shikamaru shrugged in an uncaring manner. To be truthful, before his school got blown up, everyone in his class already picked their places where they planned to do their week-long apprenticeships. His first choice, clearly gone… so now to his second choice. However,… no one needs to know that. "Endeavor Hero Agency."

Pause…

"What…" New voice, Shikamaru turned his head to see the kid that sits in front of him, Shoto Todoroki, staring at him with a look of disbelief. This only seemed to intensify as Izuku also seemed to be giving him a similar looked.

"My dad's agency got destroyed… they guy, Endeavor, owes my dad several favors…"

"Are you tell us… Your father!" Tenya didn't bother to hide his shock. "Blackmailed _him _to take you in?"

Shikamaru only shrugged. "It was either him or the Best Jeanist. But that means dealing with Ino too as she signed up to be in his agency for the week. I know the guy uses her family's flower shop whenever he plans on doing huge projects."

"What about Choji?" Izuku asked, taking in all the information he was being given.

"Hm… He's still thinking on his." Shikamaru shrugged, he continued on walking while ignoring the looks his classmates were shooting his way.

"

-.-

"Who do you like more, Shikamaru or Choji? You seemed awfully close to the both of them?" Mina nudged Ino with her elbow while wiggling her eyebrows at the blond.

Ino nose scrunched up at her question. "I love both of them equally. I see them as my brothers."

"Leave it alone, Mina, kero." Tsuyu warned Mina for what seemed like the hundredth time that past half hour alone. The girls of Class 1-A have decided to get together to get to know their new classmate, away from their eyes and ears of the males of their class. Mainly away from the perverts. "You heard what they said. Their families worked together for several generations, kero."

Ino threw Tsuyu a thankful smile. "Thank you, Tsuyu. Plus, right now love is on the bottom of my list right now."

"That's understandable." Toru motioned her arms around to emphasize her words.

"Yamanaka-san-"

"Just call me Ino."

"Ino… Okay! Then you could call me Ochaco then."

"Tsuyu."

"Momo."

"Mina!"

"Kyoka."

"Toru."

"Now that we got introductions out of the way… Tell us about your quirk!"

"Mina…"

"What? I know all of you are thinking the same thing?" Mina stated with a shrug, she turned her attention back on Ino when none of her friends didn't say anything else. "What did you do to Izuku?"

"Ah… that…" Ino took hold of her ponytail and ran her fingers through her hair. Her expression showed indifference, making some of the girls shift nervously in their seats. "I guess I might as well… Mind transfer. I could transfer my mind into someone else and take control of their bodies… read their minds… and so on. Highly known within my clan."

"I've heard as such, you don't have to answer if it sounds too personal, is it your mind or soul?" Momo asked, leaning closer towards Ino. "Mother and Father have made past mentions of your clan's quirk. There is still a roundabout debate on that aspect."

"Now, now. Number one rule of K.S.A. is to keep your quirk under wraps to surprise the villains~" Ino waved off Momo's question. "Considering a lot of people know my clan's quirk, I have to keep everything on the hush, hush so no can use it against us."

"Of course!" Momo clapped her hands together, nodding in agreement. She started to bounce in her seat. " Now… I heard the Yamanaka Clan is highly known for their floral arrangements!"

"Now that! We can talk freely about!" Ino copied Momo's movement, both of them now bouncing in their seats.

-.-

Crunch.

Munch.

Sip.

Repeat.

"Food here is good."

"Yeah. Lunch Rush's food is always good."

-Nod-

-.-

Once again… everything seemed to go by peacefully.

Shikamaru hates it. One side of him, the one before he was put upon so much responsibility, seeing destruction and… death. No one in the room seemed to have a care in the world, all of them wanting to continue onto their dreams and nothing more. He really wanted to go back to when he was able to walk through the Nara Forest with his father, feeding the deer or a time when he and his friends pull pranks on the villagers that even remotely pulled a face at one of his best friends.

A simpler time.

Slam!

"I declare a match on who can eat the most beef!"

"Bring it!"

"Wait until after school, Choji." Shikamaru called out from his seat, causing everyone to do a double-take. The guy still has his eyes closed, appears to not pay attention to anything or anyone around him. It was only when Choji declared a food way against Rikido is when he decided to pay attention to his surroundings.

"A delay on the match until after school!"

"Agreed!"

"It could be due to his Quirk." Izuku mumbled, he pulled out one of his many journals and began to look for the section he wrote about the InoShikaCho, to be more precise, Shika. "That their quirks allow them to manipulate Shadows or possible darkness. That despite the not seeing their shadows, they can see where or who it connects too."

"…That's a lot of information, Izuku…"

-.-

"This is actually… amazing…" Shikamaru scanned through the journals Izuku had brought along with him that day. Meaning, all of them. The amount of detail and notes the messy green head wrote down made the Nara wonder about the teen's ability to be able to figure out everything just by seeing things from a distance, word of mouth or even going up against someone.

Izuku beamed at the compliment he received for his journals. "Thank you!"

"Shikamaru! Let's go! We have to get groceries and Choji still needs to defend his family's honor."

"What a drag, do you guys want to come?"

"Okay, what do you think Ten-Tenya? Where'd he go?" Izuku looked around to see that it was only Shikamaru, Shoto, Ochaco, and himself left with Tenya nowhere in sight.

Shikamaru debated on whether or not he should say something about his fellow classmate. After hearing what had occurred to the class rep's older brother, of course, the guy is… off. Seeing as Izuku is mentally debating on what he should do or possibly say, he might as well say something. "You know what's wrong with him… talk to him."

Without saying another word, Shikamaru turned and followed after Ino who is cheering on Choji as several of their other classmates followed to see who could devour the most beef in one sitting. He turned around to see Izuku, Ochaco and Shoto were whispering to each other before they quickly followed him.

To be continued...

R/R.


	3. Chapter 3

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

Warning: Characters are OOC!

-.-

**Shikamaru Nara**

Stats:

Power: 3.5/B

Speed: 2/C-

Technique: 4.5/A-

Intelligence: 6/S

Cooperativeness: 5/A+

**Ino Yamanaka**

Stats:

Power: 3/B-

Speed: 3/B

Technique: 4/A-

Intelligence: 4/A

Cooperativeness: 5/A+

**Choji Akimichi**

Stats:

Power: 5/A-

Speed: 2/C-

Technique: 3.5/C

Intelligence: 2/C-

Cooperativeness: 5/A+

-.-

Shikamaru kept his eyes closed, leaning heavily into the palm of his hand as he sat on a giant pillow. Choji and Rikido were head to head against each other to see who can eat the most beef while some of the classmates sat around either cheering one or the other or eating.

There was a small issue on who was going to pay for the food, but once it was announced that Choji's family owned the place and they were going to pay for everyone's meals, and dealing with said challenge, many begrudgingly ordered something as they did not want to appear to take advantage of their new classmate. But it was when Ino stated that free food is free food and think of it as a thank you for extending out their arms for them.

With that in mind, they were all escorted to a private room and it just made everyone wonder… just how rich Choji is.

"Remind me to send a thank you note to Lady Mei. This is exactly what Choji needed to lift up his spirits." Ino leaned onto Shikamaru to whisper into his ear.

Shikamaru, in response, leaned towards her. "She sent me a text earlier, asking us to come over with possible new friends. She became ecstatic at the thought her favorite nephew making new friends… and the fact that a new friend appears to be capable of taking on an Akimichi Challenge."

"True… very true." Ino mused she looked over to see Choji and Rikido are still neck to neck and neither side are showing signs of slowing down. "I haven't seen him this excited since… well… you know."

Shikamaru opened his eyes to see what Ino was talking about. It was once thing to sense it, but to see it is a whole other matter. "I'm starting to think the transfer actually did some good."

-.-

"Potato chip bag of friendship."

"Er…"

"Akimichi-san…"

"Bag of Friendship!"

Izuku and Tenya both took hold of the BBQ flavored potato chip bag from Choji, they stared at each other wondering what they should say to the other.

Choji stared at them, he crossed his arms over his chest with a loud huff. "You two need to talk whatever is going on, out."

Without saying another word, Choji picked up his suitcase that contained his costume and headed off to his destination. Ochaco watched her friends attempt to say something to the other but it appeared when on tried to talk the other also tried to talk. After several attempts of trying to talk, the two began to laugh.

"Potato Bag of Friendship?" Izuku asked, pulling at the bag.

"Potato Bag of Friendship." Tenya whispered he pulled at the bag so that it opened.

Hiding behind a pillar, Shikamaru held back a snort as he overheard Izuku and Tenya's conversation. What happened to Tenya's brother caused the teen to do something he'll end up regretting in the end and it was something he needed to talk to his friends with. Hopefully, he won't go head-on into battle without thinking twice… hopefully.

"Are you ready to go?"

Shikamaru looked up to see Shoto waiting for him with his own suitcase. With a tired sigh, the Nara pushed away from the pillar and headed towards their designated train. "It's going to be a huge drag…"

"Hm…"

Shikamaru couldn't help but snort at the sound Shoto made. It reminded him of a certain former classmate of his… With a shake of his head, Shikamaru boarded a train with Shoto and they quickly found a spot for the long train ride.

An awkward silence fell before them that only got worse as the train ride continued on.

"Okay… ask. What do you want to know?" Shikamaru sighed, causing Shoto to temporarily tense in his seat.

"…How do you know my… father."

"The bastard tried to 'convince' my dad into working for him, or at least intimidate him to do so." Shikamaru couldn't hold back a grimace at the memory.

InoShikaCho Agency. He, Ino and Choji would have a run of the place as their parents were the heads of the Agency and they were being taught early on what is expected of them in the future. He remembers one particular time that Uncle Choza and Uncle Inoichi had taken their respective kids out to do whatever. Leaving Shikamaru alone in the agency with his father. It was just his lucky, or unlucky depending on how you look at it, day when Endeavor stormed into the place and demanded to see his father.

Shikamaru was in his father's office, playing a game of Shogi against himself while his father attempted to get ahead in his paperwork. He remembered a man yelling that he wanted to see his father, that he wasn't leaving until he did so. Shikamaru doesn't remember a time before ever seeing his father… so full of rage. It was the fact Shikamaru was sitting close to the door that when Endeavor slammed it opened, it nearly hit the young Nara head-on. If it weren't for his father activating his quirk to get him out of the way, Shikamaru would have ended up in the hospital for… First impressions on the guy? The bastard needed to take a serious chill pill.

The second time was when Shikaku had Endeavor go up against Shikamaru in a game of Shoji while the Nara went to a village meeting. That resulted with Endeavor seriously considering that perhaps mass intelligence the young Nara's Quirk that is making him win so easily. That went out the window when Shikamaru insulted the man's intelligence… fun times… keep in mind this happened when he was seven.

"My dad hates the man but knows the bastard is a hero with…questionable family values. But a hero nevertheless… unfortunately."

When Shikamaru said the last part, it caused Shoto to tense once more. "Look… I mainly picked the troublesome bastard's agency to annoy him. He's still not in my old man's good graces."

Seeing how Shoto is still taking in the information that was just thrown at him, Shikamaru pulled around his forest green and light gray lining messenger bag to pull out an electronic device. "Wanna play Shogi? I also have chess and checkers in this thing?"

"Okay." Shoto cleared his throat in an attempt to regain his composure. This… this is the first time he ever heard anyone, minus his siblings, ever curse his father's own name. That and someone believed or at least have an exact inkling on what exactly is going on behind closed doors. It feels strange. Not bad, but it felt… good that there is finally someone finally saw his father for the actual monster he really is.

-.-

"Shut up, blonde bimbo!"

"Blonde bimbo? How original, I'd tell you to go fuck yourself, but that would be cruel and unusual punishment." Ino snorted, she was now wearing her hero costume which mainly consisted of a purple high collared buttoned crop top and an apron skirt with black Shorts, mesh leggings and a pair of leather ankle boots. Around her waist is a deep purple utility belt that easily goes along with her outfit.

"GRRR! BITCH!"

"How original, dumbass."

Best Jeanist could only shake his head as he continued to listen to Katsuki and Ino-chan continue on with this silly argument. It started off with him lecturing Katsuki on how to be a proper hero and gentlemen and Ino-chan attempted to calm down her fellow classmate that just ended up with a shouting match. He knew from experience that Ino-chan isn't the type to take anything lying down and will fight tooth and nail till the end.

"OH, THAT IS IT!"

Bam…

Jeanist looked up to see Ino had fallen into a chair, completely knocked out. Looked over at Katsuki to see him… grossing out.

"EEEEWWWWW! I feel all sweaty!" Katsuki squealed out in disgust. "And I smell like soot and more swe... he smells like caramel."

"Ino-chan…"

"Yes, Best Jeanist?" 'Ino' looked over at the pro-hero with earnest eyes.

"…. This could work…"

-.-

Choji, dressed in A high collared, long red coat that extends just above his knees, black pants that are wrapped with bandages, a pair of ankle leather boots that are made to withstand any terrain. Along with plated armor on his torso, arms, and upper legs. A red and metal headband that holds back his hair, take a closer look and you'll see that his hair appears to have a very bright sheen to it. He followed Death Arms around the city, doing a daily patrol. The two are conversing on what it is expected of them and how patrols help them build better trust with citizens.

It appeared the both of them are getting along rather well.

"I'm surprised you decided to take up the offer to follow me around for the week, kid. There are other places you could have signed up for."

"I want to get to know the city better." Choji responded, digging into a bag of chips. He lifted the bag to offer some to Death Arms.

Death Arms in response, thank the Akimichi before grabbing a couple of chips. "Thanks kid…. Say, out of curiosity, how tall can you get using your quirk?"

"Depends on how many calories I put into it. I know my dad can beat Mt. Lady any day." Choji responded proudly.

"Don't tell her this… she looked up at your family when she found out what you guys could do. Made her feel normal."

"Much. Don't worry, Much, much. I won't."

-.-

"Dammit…" Tenya cursed out, tears spilled down his face as he stared at his now destroyed phone. Unfortunately, before the phone got destroyed, his call didn't go through and that meant no one was coming for him. He found the monster that destroyed his brother's life and career as being a pro-hero. If he hadn't talked to Izuku and Ochaco before leaving for his week-long trip for possibly vengeance, he would have stayed and fought against Stain the Hero Killer.

But after sharing that single bag of chips, he thought it through. There was no way he could defeat someone that had taken down so many but at the same time, there was no way Tenya was going to allow another hero parish when he could do something about it. Despite his best efforts… it was for not.

'I can't move.' Tenya cursed at himself, he cannot move his body and he still has no clue why he cannot. He moved his eyes to see Stain slowly coming towards him with his bloody sword in hand. 'It cannot end like this!'

"Tenya!"

To be continued…

R/R.


	4. Chapter 4

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

Izuku yells out for Stain to not kill his friend and the Pro Hero, Native. Pleading with his friend to run before his life is taken away. It all feels to death ears and he couldn't help the tears run down his face. He mentally cursed out at the quirk that currently has him unable to move. As he was about to witness the Hero Killer kill his friend, a column of fire that was quickly followed by a column of ice followed after that prevented Stain from killing his supposed prey.

Stain jumped back to get away from the attack but the moment both feet landed on the ground and he froze, he could no longer move. He moved his eyes around wondering why this was happening to him. He saw his shadow extended out towards the entrance of the alleyway and… "Ah… A Nara… never thought I'd see one all the way out here…"

"Tsk…" Shikamaru tsk'ed, he stood at the end of the alleyway with Shoto, both dressed in their hero costumes. The Nara has his hair is tied up in a spiky ponytail, wearing a loose black tank top with a long sleeve mesh shirt underneath it, a pair of black cargo pants and calf-high leather boots along with a matching utility belt that is hidden away underneath his tank top. Over the outfit, he has on what appeared to be a heavily worn out short-sleeved deerskin coat that goes all the way down to his knees. The Nara has his hand in front of him making a seal that controls the way he uses his quirk. "Remember Shoto… defense."

"Defense… You need to specify your texts, Midoriya… we were almost late."

"Almost." Shikamaru agreed, putting more power into his shadows when he suddenly felt Stain attempting to break his hold on him.

"How… how did you guys get here?"

-.-

_Earlier that day…_

"_You look like a cross of a goth hipster hobo." Shoto stated to Shikamaru once the latter walked out of the restroom after changing into his hero costume._

"_Eh, who cares." Shikamaru shrugged, he and Shoto headed toward Endeavor's office to fully start their week-long internship. While the Nara took his time to put on his costume, Shoto and his bastard of a father conversed and once that was said and done, Shoto went out to look for him. It was time for the first task of their week-long workplace training._

_When Shikamaru walked into the office, it was the first time he had seen the supposed hero in some time, but he knew the guy from anywhere. "My dad sends his regards."_

_With just that set of words, Endeavor tensed visibly so. It caused Shoto to shoot a look at Shikamaru, wondering… wondering how five words could do such a thing to the man that is his father. Oh, this is going to be entertaining._

_Endeavor cleared his throat and told the teens that they were going to Hosu to possibly deal with the Hero Killer._

_All good. Until Shikamaru realized that he overheard Tenya had taken his own workplace training in the same city… 'This is going to be a drag…'_

-.-

"His dad is a glory hog."

-.-

"I'M FUCKING GOING TO KILL YOU! FUCK! LET ME GO OR I'LL KILL YOU ALL!"

Ino ignored Katsuki's curses as she walked around the agency rearranging bouquets around the place. Her face pinched up, showing how stressed she is. She got a weird text for Izuku and wonders what is happening in Hosu. Even if she wants to and figure out what is happening, it would take a three-hour train ride to get there and even then, it'll probably be too late for anything. Plus, it helps that the text was sent out to the entire class. Hopefully, someone is close enough to go figure out what is happening to the green-haired teen.

"BITCH! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME!"

"…Unless you want me to transfer my mind into you again… Shut up."

"Or what, bitch."

"I'll make you wear Jeanist clothing!"

"You don't have the balls to do that!"

"Watch me!"

-.-

Shikamaru grabbed hold of Native and attempted to run. The primary goal is to get the down Pro Hero out of there and to get help. That was easier said than done. Stain was making it impossible for him to escape through the chaos. With a grunt, Shikamaru raised a hand and commanded his hand ready to move his shadow. "I am going to give you guys an opening, do not waste it!"

"Got it!"

"Understood."

"Right!"

"Target…" Shikamaru moved his shadow repeated through the shadows around the alleyway, looking for an opening to capture Stain's shadow. The killer knew the game he was playing and attempted to distract him by throwing a knife towards his way. Native attempted to call out for him to move, but within a span of a second, Shikamaru captured Stain and made his shadow rise up to capture the knife just inches of killing the Pro Hero. "Acquired."

Izuku, Shoto, and Tenya did not waste that moment to quickly finish off Stain, knocking him out for the count. Shikamaru only released the villain once he made sure the guy was completely out cold and tied up. "…Wha-"

SLAM!

Shikamaru, Shoto, Tenya, and Native watched with wide eyes as an old man propelled himself and slammed himself onto Izuku.

"Dammit, kid! Told you to stay put!"

"I'm sorry!"

Seeing as the old man knows Izuku and vice-versa, Shikamaru helped Native regain his footing. The pro hero thanks him and the others for saving him, he then leaned down and whispered to Shikamaru as they watch Tenya apologize for putting Izuku and Shoto in danger. "They don't have licenses to go after villains and this won't look good for you either."

"I know. Don't mention this to them yet." Shikamaru whispered back, he turned his head around when he heard people yelling out. It was the city's local heroes and some from Endeavor's agency. "Looks like the cavalry arrived."

Shikamaru as he normally does start to fade into the background. This wasn't his problem anymore, he kept his eyes on the sky and wondered about those weird-looking creatures from earlier are all defeated. Probably so. He wasn't looking forward to dealing with the bastard telling him and Shoto off for running off, but hey, if a friend is in need, they got to do, what they got to do.

Endeavor and several others arrived, all of them taking in at the fact four heroes in training managed to take down Hero Killer just themselves, made them wonder how strong they are. Then they began to go over on how to turn in Stain without giving him a chance to escape.

A loud screeching sound disturbs the supposed peace, and the old man cried out for everyone to duck. Shikamaru looked up to see a winged creature fly down towards them. When he saw the creature targeted Izuku, and without hesitation, his feet moved on their own accord to get the teen out of the way before he got captured.

'What a drag…' Shikamaru last thought before he felt he was being dragged into the air by his coat. When he attempted to get the coat off himself, he suddenly felt an odd presence suddenly fall before him and the monster suddenly went stiff, falling back down to earth. Shikamaru braced himself as the hold on his coat loosened enough to escape and plummet back to earth. "Ow…"

Then… the feeling of absolute bloodlust clouded Shikamaru's senses, causing his mind to go blank…

To be continued…

R/R.


	5. Chapter 5

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

A/N: For now on, if a person is in their hero costume, I will reference them as their hero's name. Unless otherwise…

-.-

_Blood._

_He watched on as his family gets picked off, one by one._

_Blood._

_He attempted to save someone who he promised to keep safe but failed…_

_Blood._

_His father is the first to go. The man distracted the enemy to allow a group of civilians to escape at the cost of his own life…_

_Blood._

_His mother died in the safe house, with many other civilians…_

_Blood._

_Friends dying in his arms._

_Blooding trickling through his fingers._

_Blood mixing in with more blood as the young Nara took personal pleasure seeing the life from his enemy fade into darkness._

_Then… dragging himself through the dirt towards the heart of the battle to see one of his close friends covered in a loved one's blood as they fall before them all._

_Never in his life had Shikamaru ever felt such a presence in his entire life…_

_So much hate, anger and…_

_So much Blood lust._

-.-

Shikamaru slowly let out a painful groan, slowly opening his eyes as his parched throat demanding he gets something to drink. He doesn't remember how long he's been out but by the looks of it… his in a hospital room… and his head is covered in wires…

Shikamaru groaned when he saw a familiar symbol that was hidden throughout the room. Not good. Not only is he in a hospital, but he's also i-

"Guys, he's awake!"

Shikamaru looked over to see Izuku, Shoto, and Shoto, all dressed in hospital wear, bandaged up and completely worn out from what they just went through. "What happened?"

"You were knocked out due to…" Tenya looked over at Izuku and Shoto for some sort of confirmation on how to proceed. Izuku encouraged him to continue to talk. "Stain released some sort of bloody malefic aura that… paralyzed us all. Prior from that happening, you had pushed Midoriya from getting taken by a Nomu."

"A what? Was it that winged creature thing?"

"Yes." Shoto responded for Tenya.

"Ah…"

"Stain got free and promptly got the blood of said monster to cause it to paralyze." Tenya continued to recount the events that had happened. "The Nomu let go of you and luckily, your shadows caught you… we assume the aura Stain released caused you to blackout."

"Could you explain to me how this aura felt like?" Shikamaru asked he let out a groan as he sat upon the bed. He felt several of his bones pop back into place.

"Dark, it caused all of us to freeze in our tracks." Izuku explained, he kept his gaze down on the tiled floor. "It felt like with that aura alone, we would have died because of it."

Shikamaru plopped himself on his pillow with a sigh, he stared up at the ceiling that appeared to be decorated with tiny painted flowers. "Tenya… why the hell were you there in the first place?"

Tenya tensed. He still hadn't had the opportunity to talk to Shikamaru on his actions of that night. "I-"

"He wasn't planning on fighting Stain!" Izuku interrupted, waving his hands in front of him. He moved over towards Shikamaru's bed, as he continued on. "He planned on rescuing Native! He just wasn't able to get out of there in time!"

"He texted us his plans before he went in to save Native." Shoto continued, he sat on his own bed with his arms crossed. "Then he mentioned a potato chip bag of friendship?"

At that Shikamaru couldn't help but allow a chuckle escape through his lips. Of course…

"I must apologize." Tenya bowed deeply to Shikamaru. "I would ask for forgiveness for my actions, but that would mean I would regret saving Native. I am sorry, not sorry!"

"Got it. I would have done the same thing." Shikamaru sighed, a partial memory of the fight came to the forefront of his mind. "Wait… I did tell you guys to run while I had him in my grasp… and you troublesome bastards refused."

"Guess we really are troublesome bastards then." Shoto replied with a deadpan expression.

Pause.

Laughter rang throughout the room, all tension lifted as light chatter began to fill the room.

"How much trouble are we in?" Shikamaru asked, taking off the sticky pads that were connected to wires, off his head.

"Depends on how long you planned to hide the fact you are heavily affected by what happened that day, Shikamaru."

The four teens whipped their heads to see a man with long blonde hair tied up in a high pony-tail, dressed in a sharp purple suit and carrying a tablet.

"What a drag…" Shikamaru groaned under his breath, catching his new friend's attention.

"Do you know him, Shikamaru?" Izuku whispered to him.

"I'm more surprised you don't recognize him." Shikamaru stated, he turned his attention towards the man once more. "Part of Pro-Hero Group InoShikaCho ranking #14, has several doctorates in psychiatry, psychology, botany and some other minor degrees… and my god-father… Inoichi Yamanaka… or commonly known as, Ino. Hey Uncle Inoichi."

"Don't you hey me, young man." Inoichi nearly growled through his teeth. "You've been out for nearly two days with no sign of waking up. Nearly giving your god-mother a heart attack, your mother is still calling non-stop wanting an update… don't even get me started on your father… your old man gave Endeavor a complete riot act on how he shouldn't have let you go off on your own."

"…did you get it on tape?"

Shoto couldn't help but perk up at the thought of someone that looked similar to Shikamaru yelling at his father. It felt like a happy thought.

"Yes. Yes, I do." Inoichi raised the tablet, grinning at the memory. Then his grin fell. "Your father visited but had to return back to the village."

Shikamaru visibly deflated at the news, he wanted to see his father and talk to him.

"Hey, don't feel bad… at least it leaves me having to punish you for that flipping stunt you just pulled! What were you thinking! You caused all of us to worry, and you had the gall to…"

Izuku, Shoto, and Tenya watched as Inoichi reprimanded his god-son for his actions and they were surprised when the man suddenly walked over and hugged the teen.

"Thank you, Kami… You're still alive." Inoichi whispered into Shikamaru's frazzled and spiky hair. "You gave us quite a scare. We thought you'd never come back from that dark corner of your mind."

"I'm sorry, Uncle. I had to do what I had to do, to protect my teammates." Shikamaru muttered into the man's rather expensive coat. He allowed tears to fall at the thought of causing his loved ones to worry about him.

Heartache.

The other teens in the room that were watching the scene before them couldn't help but feel their heartstrings were being pulled at the sight before them. All of them had their own reasons for such thing to happen.

Shoto is completely on negative terms with his father, in Shikamaru's words, Bastard of a father. The _man _only saw him as a tool, _training_ him to the point of beyond exhaustion, isolating him from his siblings and the worse of all is causing his mother to snap. Never once had Endeavor been a father figure to him.

Izuku doesn't even remember his own father's face. Sure, his mother had the man's pictures around the apartment growing up, but as time goes by, those pictures slowly were being replaced. They were replaced by drawings or pictures of random heroes the young would-be hero had taken. Never once did his father attempt to create some sort of connection with him, and thus, Izuku stopped trying when his letters started to get returned and his mother had received divorce papers through the mail is when he decided there was no use reaching out to… his father anymore. The man preferred to be over sea's than to be with his family.

As for Tenya… he may have a father that is present, physically. Emotionally… not so much. The man has high expectations of him and only spoke to him when it had to do with his schooling, training or to reprimand him whenever he did something that would potentially taint the family's name. This caused a rift in the family and Tenya's old brother who picked up their father's slack when it came to being a father.

Cough. Cough.

Everyone in the room turned to see Gran Torino and Manual coming into the room before they announced the arrival of the city's Police Chief. After a short introduction, the police chief went on a monologue on Stain's condition and how the Police Force refuses to use Quirk uses out of fear they were to be perceived as weapons, including how that was the reason heroes became to be. Along with the strict rules and morals, all heroes should follow.

Then going on how the young would-be heroes went against a villain without the proper protocol and breaking multiple laws. Thus… they needed to be punished.

Shoto was about to say something but was interrupted when Shikamaru spoke up. "Is that your opinion or the Police Force as a whole?"

The Police Chief chuckled. "That is the general opinion of the Force. Personally, after talking to Native… he commended young Iida for his attempt to rescue him. Showing great valor and determination. Especially showing great restraint towards Stain, considering what had happened to your brother… You four worked on a goal of rescuing the hero in need and only fought as a last course of action."

"And…"

Whack.

"Sorry uncle…"

"Three unlicensed-"

"Sir, sorry for interrupting, there were four of us…" Izuku trailed, he, Shoto and Tenya slowly turned around to turn their attention back at Shikamaru, who is furiously scanning through Inoichi's tablet.

"What a drag… It did go through." Shikamaru grumbled, staring at an email that confirmed his transfer papers from K.S.A., Konoha transferred through the proper network to legalize his Provisional Hero License. You see, Konoha, Suna, Kiri, Kumo, and Iwa have a different system set within their own village limit that is not recognized outside their respective borders, their own exams, license and so on, might work in those villages but nowhere else in Japan. Of course, once you turn a certain age and complete some paperwork, then whala! A license that is recognized all throughout the country! Shikamaru looked up to see everyone staring at him, waiting for some sort of answer from him. "What? I just found out my license from Konoha got approved by the government… What a drag… don't look at me like that. I've had a provisional Hero License since I was twelve, and I had to wait till I was at least fifteen to be recognized by the government."

"I have heard certain villages have a different approach when it came to hero licenses, their own set of laws and morals. Of course, to ensure no use abuses this power, no one outside of the village or go through the standard protocol of hero schooling is allowed to receive licenses at a younger age." Tenya held up his chin with his good arm, deep in thought. "Including implanting harsher entry exams…"

"It was harsh, and it was only recently I got it upgraded so that I can work out of the village."

"How long? How long have you had a license?"

"Hm? Since I was… twelve? Ish?"

-.-

Izuku couldn't help but feel to be in a complete loss as Shikamaru told them tales of his upbringing and friends from K.S.A., as such, it was almost sounding like he's from a different world completely.

Being born into a clan of known shadow related quirks, but even those without a quirk still have the supposed 'curse' of high intelligence. Which has many pursuing medicines, technology, science, or even the military. Shikamaru joked how he didn't even want to be a hero, he would have preferred a simple job or just a deer herder, but refusing to say why the change of heart to continue training to be a hero.

Then there's the fact how the village appeared to have a rather high quirkless population and Shikamaru thinks nothing of it. It was just something everyone knew about and just go on their day without a second thought.

"There are several of us that went through the hero program with or without out the use of quirks. Those without might not be considered to be top contenders in the eyes outside the village, but to us… they are a total bag of troublesome. There's someone a year ahead of me that went through general studies then put into hero class after showing how much hard work could pay off. Pure training, and with the right equipment to pack an extra punch, you have a dangerous close-range fighter. Nasty kicks too…" Shikamaru grumbled out the last part, he looked over to see Izuku mumbling on about how he was treated before his quirk manifested recently and compared it to the stories set in Konoha. "Izuku… have you considered changing your fighting style? I can get you in contact with my friend, Lee."

"O-oh! No! I mean yes! If it's not a problem." Izuku trailed off as he actually took in Shikamaru's words. Changing his fighting style…. All this time he's been fighting like All Might, but that seems to prove that right now, his body is not capable of the hero's fighting style. Plus, after training with Gran Torino, it put a different perspective of what he should do to use One for All. "If… it's not a problem."

Slam!

"Shikamaru-kun!?/ Lee!/Not again…"

The door was slammed open to reveal three teens, all wearing different school uniforms. The only female is wearing a U.A.'s uniform and is holding back a teen dressed in Ketsubutsu Academy High School uniform. The final teen, dressed in a pristine Shiketsu High School uniform, watched on as his friends doing their typical charade. He moved through the doorway, walking pass his friends to head over towards Shikamaru's bed. "Nara-san. I've heard from Yamanaka-sama of your condition. I hope all is well."

"You really need to drop the formality, Neji." Shikamaru sighed, he looked over to see Tenten suddenly grabbing hold of Lee and slamming him against a wall… repeatedly, all the while cursing at him on how to properly act in a hospital. Shaking his head, he turned his attention towards the other now thoroughly confused teens. "Izuku, Shoto, Tenya… I'd like you to meet, Neji Hyuga, Tenten, and Rock Lee. Guys… why the hell are you here?"

"I invited them." Everyone turned their head towards the door to see Inoichi leaning against the doorframe. "They were the only ones who were available to visit you."

Shikamaru read the spacing in between the words and shot the man a mocking glare. The glare only intensified when he saw the man mouthed the word 'punishment,' before the man left. Of course, the troublesome man want's his old world to integrate itself with the present. Turning towards his classmates to give them a tired look. "They also went to K.S.A., don't pay any mind to them."

"Shikamaru-kun!"

Izuku, Shoto, and Tenya watched on as a 'Lee' glomped Shikamaru, all with varied expressions. Said expressions to complete gobsmack as Lee hugged the life out of Shikamaru, the Nara reached out towards them with pleading eyes. "Help… me."

"LEE!" Tenten rushed forward and separated Lee from Shikamaru, the bowl-haired teen was pushed back to show streams of tears running down his face. "You're just going to further harm him. Reel it back a bit…a lot. Reel it in by a lot."

Tenten turned her attention to Shikamaru to see her younger classmate rubbing his neck. "Inoichi-sama told us enough so that we can connect the dots. Everyone sends their regards and hope you make a speedy recovery."

"Thanks…" Shikamaru once again turned his attention back to Izuku. "Remember the guy I told you about that transferred into Hero Courses without having a quirk? This is him."

Izuku, Shoto, and Tenya turned their attention at the still crying in Ketsubutsu Academy High School student. "Huh?"

"I know… appearances are extremely deceiving." Neji frowned, he reached over and poked Lee on the shoulder that caused the bowl haired cut teen to go unconscious. "Are you planning on killing your classmate by having him train under Lee?"

"If I wanted him dead, he'd already been so." Shikamaru deadpanned, making those that do not know his sense of humor, don't know if he's kidding or telling the truth. "No, the brat needs to train in close range combat so that he doesn't further damage his body."

"Yosh! I take on the challenge! If I cannot do this, then I will run laps with my own hands!"

"Neji… I thought you knocked him out?"

"-Sigh- It's the power of youth, Nara-san… the power of youth…"

"Youth!"

-.-

Izuku shakily picked up his backpack and swung it over his back. He groaned internally as he accidentally aggravated the bruises that littered all over his body. After leaving the hospital, he spent the remaining days training under Gran Torino and Rock Lee, whose hero's name if Green Beast. Oddly… the name suits the older teen. Very much so. Shikamaru wasn't kidding about how Lee is being quirkless and that didn't stop him from being a powerhouse in terms of being a close-range combatant.

_Flashback~_

"_-you train as if you are copying someone and sadly attempting to make their moves your own. Your body is not suited for that style and you have pushed your limit." Green Beast tutted Deku, dressed in a forest green sturdy suit, orange arm, and leg warmers and a pair of flexible but extremely durable shoes that… provides an extra kick, sitting on top of an air vent. He watched as Deku struggled to stand up. "You need to find or make up a style that personally suits you. At this rate, you will damage your arms beyond repair and even the world greatest doctor or even someone with a healing quirk, cannot reverse the damage."_

"_Speaking from experience, kid?" Gran Torino called out from his spot from his roof._

_Green Beast stared down at Deku, tilting his head as he through over his next course of action. He reached down to remove his left arm and leg warmers, rolling up the sleeves to reveal both limbs to be heavily bandaged. As he began to speak again, Green Beast slowly removed the bandages. "I went up against someone who could manipulate sand to the highest degree. He crushed my left arm and leg. I was told I'd never be able to continue on with my dream of being a hero. I… I still trained despite what I was told. I ended up doing more damage to myself than anything else. I ended up making the original damage far worse than it originally was."_

_Deku couldn't hold back a gasp at seeing Green Beast's severely scarred arm and leg. It looked like he'd had gone through multiple surgeries, old and new scars littered his skin. It reminded him so much of all the times he had severely damaged his own limbs. "But… Did you get better? I mean, your stan- I mean sitting right here in front of us. Fighting like no other-"_

"_Only because Lady Tsunade performed an extensive surgery that had a 50/50 chance of continuing on with my dreams or die on the operating table. It resulted that despite the fact my bones and muscles were healed, bone fragments traveled up and lodged into my spinal column. Even after the surgery was done and successful, she told me I should change or update my fighting style to avoid putting a massive strain on these limbs until fully healed and knowing my limits on them…. And I did. You have dealt with similar injuries and grown comfortable with someone healing them like nothing. You need to know your limitations and continue to grow! Now-"_

_Deku's eyes suddenly went wide when Green Beast disappeared from sight and they widened once more when he was suddenly kicked off the roof._

"_Pay attention!"_

_End of Flashback~_

Izuku thanked Gran Torino before he quickly left to catch his train back home. It was time to show everyone what he learned during the long week.

To be continued…

R/R.


	6. Chapter 6

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

"_I… I avoid sleeping, only taking naps. I don't want to close my eyes to only see my mistakes and seeing… their bodies."_

"_That's not good, Shikamaru. You need to fully rest your mind, body, and spirit."_

"_I know. I just don't want to see their faces!"_

"… _I'll talk to your mother and aunt to send herbal remedial teas to help you sleep from the Nara Achieve and the garden. I'm not going to prescribe medication as…"_

"_I nearly got addicted? Yeah… no thanks." Shikamaru rubbed his face at the memory of having to take medication to help his sleep. Chronic Insomnia. A curse that appears to be passed down randomly in his family. His father or grandfather didn't get it, but he apparently got the brunt of it. Shikaku and Yoshino Nara had hoped the medication would help him fully rest, but that proved to be Shikamaru's own downfall. "I don't want to take medication for this… Please."_

"_I know. This goes beyond the reason of you not wanting to sleep. It has to do with your work as a hero….and Asuma's death."_

"_Murdered. He was murdered right in front of me like so many."_

-.-

"Never again, I swear." Ino huffed out, storming through the front steps of U.A., her friends followed along with her and neither of them bothered to say anything as she ranted on about her workshop training. "He's crude, violent, ignorant, and a complete delinquent!"

Choji and Shikamaru shot each other a look but did not say anything. It appeared Ino had a rather eventful week.

"And you!" Ino whipped back and pointed at Shikamaru accusingly. "What in Kami's name happened to you! Fighting against the Hero Killer! Without backup! What were you thinking?"

"…" Shikamaru rolled his eyes, he continued walking forward. The Police Chief of Hosu explained to him and the others that he and Endeavor are taking the full credit of saving Native and taking down Hero Killer, Stain. All the while leaving out the actual truth of that night to protect the others from getting into deeper shit. Mainly what social media had announced is that the Nara managed to save Native just in time and went on defense until Endeavor arrived to defeat the killer.

Something along those lines.

Fortunately, his picture isn't plastered everywhere, but that victory is short-lived as his name is known. Hopefully, people don't put two and two together…

"Hey, Nara, I heard you fought Stain and lived to tell the tale."

"You are sooo amazing, Nara-Kun!"

"Tell us what happened, Nara?"

Shikamaru ignored everyone around him as he continued to his class, even his friends were ignored. He reached into his pant's pocket and took out a hair tie and promptly tied his hair up in its usual style. There were deep bags under his eyes and he swore his sight was becoming increasingly blurry and his stomach churned to the point it made him wince.

"What a drag…" Shikamaru muttered under his breath as he lost his footing and began to fall forward. Luckily for him, someone had caught him before he hit the floor.

"Whoa there… take it easy there."

Through blurry vision, Shikamaru could only see a mass of purple hair before his world turned black.

-.-

News got around that one of the new kids fainted and is now under Recovery Girl's care. Many began to sprout out reasons why he's there and why he passed out. Many wondered it had to do with what had happened during the workshop training. Then once the name got around on who exactly is resting in the nurse's office, new rumors spread around.

Ino and Choji kept staring at the clock, wanting the day to go by fast to go find Shikamaru. When they saw their friend fall, people immediately surrounded him and it was impossible to get to him. By the time they made it to the spot where they saw the Nara fall, someone had already carried him off and one of the teachers announced they had to quickly head to class.

Now, all they had to do now is wait.

They hate waiting.

"What the hell crawled up your skirt, bitch."

"I will make you wear a skirt! And you know it, Sparky Sparky Boom Pants!"

"Fuck you!"

"Oh, how original, walking stink bomb!"

Almost everyone in the class couldn't help but watch, completely awestruck. Someone is finally able to go up against Katsuki Bakugo and isn't showing any signs of backing down. Choji only shook his head as he watched on as Ino went head to head against Katsuki.

Choji debated if he should step in before the fight got physical. Izuku, Tenya and some of the others attempted to break them apart but it was to no avail. Having already been used to this sort of thing, he might as well do something as Shikamaru isn't there to stop Ino. Standing up from his chair, he quickly extended out his arms in front of him and called out. "Partial Multi-Size!"

Choji's arms expanded out and capturing Ino and Katsuki in each arm and forcibly separating them. "Behave.

"Let go of me, Fat ASS!"

"Now you've done it, dumbass!"

"FAT ASS! I'LL SHOW YOU FAT ASS!"

-.-

"After finally convincing the higher-ups… and your mother… I managed to get you transferred into 1-A. Even if they appear to be at a higher level than yourself right now… remember that with the right training, you'll be up there with them." Shota Aizawa stated to his newest student to Class 1-A, who has messy purple hair which sticks out wildly and nearly matching colored eyes. The teen silently followed behind the man, wondering if he truly got what is needed to be in the class in the first place.

"…Does mom know you pulled strings to get me in?"

"…"

"I'll take that as a no."

"Hitoshi…"

"I get it. I get it why you didn't do it in the first place." Hitoshi Shinso scratched the back of his head out of habit. "No one knows about…?"

"No one… for you and your mother's own safety, let's keep that piece of information under wraps." Aizawa stood in front of the door of Class 1-A, he turned his attention back at the teen. "I'm proud of you, I'll always be proud of you."

Before Hitoshi could respond, explosions and shouting could be heard from the other side of the door. This prompted Aizawa to slam the door open and he was tempted to shut the door and find his sleeping bag. Choji and Katsuki were both being held back by the other students, trying to get them to diffuse the situation between the two.

By the looks of it, it wasn't working.

"Choji! Please calm down!"

"Bakugo, man! Calm down!"

"Dammit, you guys!"

"This is highly inappropriate behavior!"

"SHUT IT, FOUR EYES!"

"WHY DON'T YOU SHUT IT, SPARKY SPARKY BOOM PANTS!"

Aizawa took in a deep breath before he used quirk to prevent either side of using their own. "That is enough. Back to your seats, I have an announcement to make."

Choji and Katsuki begrudgingly went back to their seats as did everyone else. Tension filled the room as many began to realize, the new kids were not going to put up with anyone's crap. They could take in so much before they explode. It made them wonder just how much they are holding back.

Especially considering the one that is missing, went up against the Hero Killer Stain and lived to tell the tale. (Far as many knew, except for three other students.)

"We are getting a new student today, you'd recognize him from the Sports Festival." Aizawa announced, he looked over at the open door and everyone turned their attention over to see Hitoshi Shinso slowly walking into the room. Some commented on how he looked like he's beginning to put on some muscle, but not enough to make it so obvious to many.

-.-

"Sleep deprivation…"

"His mind couldn't handle it anymore…"

"…Should have done something…"

Shikamaru groggily opened his eyes to see that he's in what he assumes to be the nurse's office. Recovery Girl's place then? Why is he here? Oh… right… he passed out. His family is going to have a field day with this. He did a mental health check on himself and what he was coming up with wasn't good. His body finally gave out on him and his mind will slowly follow behind if he doesn't' take care of himself soon.

"You're awake."

"How long I've been out?" Shikamaru turned his head to see Recovery Girl walking into his eyesight. He couldn't help but inwardly groan, the woman could be just as scary as Lady Tsunade.

"Give or take ten to eleven hours and by the looks of it, you're going to need more of it." Recovery Girl stated, she pulled out a clipboard that had Shikamaru's vitals. "Your uncle came in earlier to drop off your medical files. My… it appears you've been neglecting yourself and your body finally put a stop to it."

"…" Shikamaru didn't respond, he turned his head away to look out towards the window to see the sun disappearing behind the skyline. He wondered what his parents are doing right now, maybe they are herding the deer back into the barn with all the other animals, harvesting herbs to make medicine or… just continuing on with their lives and rebuilding the village.

To be continued…

R/R.


	7. Chapter 7

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

_Inoichi pinched the bride of his nose, mentally going over what he could possibly do to help Shikamaru. The kid is obviously in need of sleep, but his fear of nightmares keep him awake for the longest time possible. He can't force him either, that didn't help the young Nara the last time he tried to do that. Using his quirk on his god-son could possibly break him at this point in time._

_Even so, Inoichi needs to leave the city to go back to continue with the reconstruction of the village and lead his clan_

_Maybe someone in the school could help him with this problem…_

-.-

Shikamaru sat in the back of a black vehicle, using his dark green backpack as a pillow. Driving the car is Aizawa-sensei and some random teen with indigo hair. He didn't get his name and at this point… he did not care. The only thing that is on his mind is sleep. Just too tired to figure anything out at this point. Allowing himself to lean against the window and close his eyes, enjoying how cold the glass window felt against his skin.

"You're still mulling over the training exercise, Toshi?"

"…I couldn't even make it halfway through the course. I still need to train to keep up with the others and that includes the capturing weapon."

"It took me six years to master it."

"How reassuring…"

Pause, brief shuffle.

"Jeez, he's been out since this morning…"

"Hitoshi…"

-Insert obvious eye-roll- "Sorry _dad._"

-Insert another just as obvious eye-roll- "Tch. Brat."

With a heavy sigh, Shikamaru lifted his head and slowly opened his eyes to see how dark it was. It was obvious it was after hours; the streetlights are on and traffic is starting to light up. "How much longer until I get back to the apartment…"

Aizawa looked through the rearview mirror to see Shikamaru rifling through his backpack to only pull out a cellphone. A rather pricy looking one too by the looks of it… "Twenty minutes."

"Bleh…" Shikamaru scanned his phone to see multiple missed calls from his friends and family. So many of them. Letting out a sigh, he quickly called the most important number on his phone. Even if it's near the person's sleep time, Shikamaru knows they won't rest until they hear from him, himself and not from a third party.

Not even past the first ring, when Shikamaru's call was answered.

Aizawa and Hitoshi ignored the obvious yelling coming from the other side of the call that seemed to ring out through the vehicle.

"I know… I know… I'm going to talk to Uncle Inoichi abo… I know… I'm sorry…. I'm not, I promise…. Dad's still are work… No… it's okay, I'll talk to dad when he's not busy… It really is okay, he's…" Shikamaru paused, he took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "A busy man… Love you, mom."

Shikamaru ended the call with his mother, he reached out and rubbed the back of his neck. Of course, the old man is busy. No surprise there, maybe he'll call again in the morning. With that in mind, he must make another call.

At the third ring, the call was picked up from the other side. "…Hey… Ino called you…? I… my body gave out, I've been running on fumes… I know… I'll tell you about it later…. I know… You talked to my mom… What a drag… I know."

Hitoshi couldn't help but look back when Shikamaru finished the phone call. Nara tone went from being a monotone, annoyed to complete fondness. That last one showed a hint of affection in the tone of his voice it made him wonder how close he is to the other person on the line. "Girlfriend?"

Shikamaru eyes widened momentarily at the question. He let out a cough to regain his composure. "It's… complicated. How much longer till we get to the apartment?"

"We're here."

"Thank Kami…"

Aizawa shot Hitoshi a look and it caused the teen to let out a heavy sigh and turned around to face Shikamaru.

Shikamaru, in turn, raised an eyebrow at the purple-haired teen. The other teen asked him a random question and when he answered… his world blurred around him.

-.-

"Really? Villainess Quirk? Tch, that is a complete bull. I could transfer my mind into other people's mind and take control of their body and don't even get me started with my poison flower petal quirk! I got high marks back in K.S.A., and been nominated time and time, to being Top Hero and top of my class every year!" Ino huffed out after hearing Hitoshi's was treated due to his quirk. If anything, the quirk the other teen has is something many should be glad to have on their team. "Look!"

Ino pointed at Hitoshi's nose, causing the latter to go crossed eyed to look at the said finger. "I will train you to fully use your quirk to the highest extent! Now we need is a willing subject… Choji… why are you running away… CHOJI!"

Hitoshi slowly blinked as he watched the long-haired blonde runoff, chasing after her…larger friend. He looked around the training ground to see everyone in Class 1-A training or doing their own thing. It was mainly a free day and had the choice of doing whatever they wanted to do. With a sigh, he headed towards a more secluded part of the training grounds to train by himself.

"Hey, Shinso! Let's train together!" Denki suddenly appeared next to Hitoshi, he proceeded to drag the other teen without waiting for a response.

Hitoshi was at odd ends at the fact he was allowing the blonde to drag him off. It was extremely odd considering the fact he told everyone he had no intention of making friends and focus on his training to be a pro hero. But no, everyone went on and on how many in the class consider him to be a frie…

Hitoshi looked around the area to see Ino reprimanding Choji for running away from her. He couldn't help but feel guilty. He had used his quirk against their friend and from what he was told, they and said friend about his connection to the reason the Nara has not been in school for the last two to three days. Still, he can't help that heavy feeling that is growing in his stomach at the thought of being told to use his quirk to _help _someone.

How _did _he help Shikamaru?

"OI! DENKI! I WAS GOING TO TRAIN WITH HIM FIRST!"

"I SAW HIM FIRST!"

Hitoshi's eyes widened as Denki began to run off, dragging him alongside him. Then tripping over his own feet, but the electric blonde still continued to proceed forward to get away from the platinum blonde.

Oh, look at how much he's fallen…

-.-

Shikamaru blinked back at his reflection through the foggy bathroom mirror. He doesn't remember the date or time, let alone how long he's been asleep. Or when he got back to the apartment…

With a sigh, Shikamaru grabbed a brush and roughly brushed his hair to get it manageable. It was full of tangles and knots, to the point he couldn't even run his hands through it without the fear of pulling his hair out in chunks. After using some of Ino's hair products and it was finally a success. He managed to get dressed in a tight mesh tank top, a dark green and black long sleeve unbuttoned shirt, and a pair of black jeans. It was midday, and he found a note saying he should take a break and take a nap from Ino and Choji.

Normally, this would be something he'd take anyone up to… but right now, Shikamaru needed to wash his sheets, clothes, and figuring out what had happened the last three days. That and homework…

"Ugh… Homework."

-.-

"Impossible…What the hell?" Katsuki couldn't believe his eyes as he watched Deku go through a makeshift obstacle course using that supposed impossible quirk of his. What caused the blonde to grit his teeth together is that the nerd is using his own moves, but the issue was that, the ass is making a list of his supposed moves are not of any use and going on about some moron named Green Beast.

"I need to be more fluid and at the same time be grounded…" Izuku continued to mumble on as he went over what Lee had taught him during the internships. After being told he should find or make up a set of moves to call his own. Even so, after doing around the obstacle course, he made mental notes on how he should fully use his quirk and not damage his body further on. "He did mention that I need to find a style that does not put too much strain on my body unless I have trained my body to the fullest to the extent to endure the training… I just it doesn't involve me cutting my hair like his…let alone eyebrows… where did I put that green jumpsuit… and the arm and leg warmers…"

Katsuki couldn't help but feel Deku is mocking him somehow…

-.-

"I give up…" Shikamaru muttered under his breath, shoving his homework away from him. It wasn't that he saw it as difficult for him to do. It was that… it was stuff he already knew since he was a brat raiding his father's office because the man was working late and his mother made him go in there to grab something. Instead, he grabbed a random book from the shelf and plopped onto the worn leather chair to read the book, battle tactics when dealing with a villain in a populated area. That and some book on past wars that Konoha was involved in, so many years ago.

Shikamaru stood up and headed towards the front door. He put on a pair of leather boots and headed out the door, the Nara needed to leave the apartment before he lost his mind, let alone his sanity… whatever is left of it at this point.

To be continued…

R/R.


	8. Chapter 8

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

"_You are going."_

"_You cannot tell me what to do…"_

"_I will have the elders force you to go."_

"_You wouldn't dare…"_

"_Try me."_

"…"

-.-

To… much… of… a… drag…

Shikamaru hid in the trees from across the entrance of U.A., the place surrounded by reporters and… fans, all demanding to see All Might and the teen hero that help take down Stain. They wanted an interview or whatever else they want. It was a huge drag…

Maybe he didn't think through with this plan…

"What a drag…"

"Hello there, Young Nara!"

Shikamaru jumped up and hitting his head against a low branch. He groaned at the fact he hit his head and at the fact he allowed himself to be caught off guard so easily. Looking up to see All Might himself, also crouching behind the bushes and trees to make sure he wasn't seen by the reporters and fans. The Nara hid further into the bushes in an attempt to get away from the Number One Hero not only in Japan but to the entire world too. A rather troublesome title.

"I heard you were under strict orders to rest, Young Nara." All Might said, his grin never leaving his lips.

"Too much of a drag to follow orders that were given to me while under a trance." Shikamaru deadpanned with a hint of bitterness meshed into his voice.

All Might took note of the tone and wondered what he should do or say. He had met the young man's father while on his travels, paths crossed or when he heeded to get the man's advice on a case or whatever else. From the times the Hero had met the older Nara, he could describe the man with a massive resolve, even during a depressive or dangerous situation, and even right down merciless. Even with that in mind, Shikaku Nara is a man of few words but has a penchant of considering everything to be troublesome or too much of a drag if things turn out to be tedious. Despite what many thinks of him, the man could outsmart the strongest or most powerful of people with the simplest of tricks, the man is on a whole other level compared to many heroes out there.

Nara always had the upper hand in some way or somehow. The man only spoke about his family when he was off the clock or given enough alcohol running through his system and with the rest of the InoShikaCho around to become loose-lipped.

Yamanaka mentioned how Nara isn't the type to mix family and hero work to a massive extent. Mentioning how man was heavily made of aware of by his wife that work life and home life needs to be separated. It doesn't help that the shadow manipulator quirk user is needed everywhere and by everyone around him.

"_Shikaku is not only leading our Agency, but he's also Lady Tsunade's left-hand man, part of the K.S.A. School Board, City Council, and a whole other crap that makes us wonder if he ever has time for his family life."_

"_Inoichi…"_

"_What, Choza? He missed his kid's entry ceremony because **All Might **needed to talk to him about a supposed important task. Let's not forget about his birthday party, or bring your parent to the school day, no shows **because **someone needed to speak to him and not understand that people have personal lives."_

All Might had more or less avoided going to Konoha unless it's an emergency… even so, when he does go there in an emergency, it's always the wrong time. The very wrong time.

It appears the young Nara has some sort of resentment towards him. "Young Na-"

"Shut up… you're attracting the vultures." Shikamaru deadpanned, he saw the group of reporters beginning to whisper and point towards their general direction. He looked over at All Might to see the man froze, possibly at the thought of being caught by said vultures. The fifteen-year-old slowly began to smirk at the Pro Hero as he went through all outcomes of his plan.

"Oh, my kami! Is that All Might!"

Instant reaction.

"Did you hear that?"

"Quickly, before he leaves again!"

All Might jumped in surprise at Shikamaru's sudden outburst, causing to expose their position to the now incoming reporters. He turned to look down to only see that the teen was gone without a trace.

'Devious bastard.'

-.-

"So…sore…" Izuku grumbled, dragging himself through the halls. He had another healing secession with Recovery Girl, this time not of his own violation this time around. Today's exercise required him going up against Choji in a friendly spar. It was anything but friendly, despite his size and ability compared to One for All, Choji could give a lot of the students of Class 1-A a run for title as a Pro-Hero.

Luckily school is over and it was time to go home, Izuku wondered if he'll make it home before he passed out.

"Hey, Izuku! Wait up!"

Izuku wearily turned around to see Ino and Choji running towards him. He saw both of them sported their own bandaged wounds from their own friendly spars. Choji had both his arms heavily bandaged while Ino's fingers are covered with bandages and a couple on her face. Neither of them appeared to be all that disturbed by it, if anything, they were embracing it. Not paying any mind to it too. "H-hey, Choji, Ino…"

Ino whistled at Izuku's own bandages. "You sure hold up against, Choji. The big guy is a tank when he wants to be."

Izuku momentarily froze, he timidly looked over at Choji to see the teen-only taking out a bag of chips, not at all concerned with the conversation in hand and what Ino had called him. So maybe he doesn't get upset if she says something about his weight? Or maybe it was a term of endearment and not as an insult? Wait… "Is Shikamaru okay? He hasn't been seen in the last three days?"

"Oh… he's okay. His fight against Stain took a lot out of him and he's recuperating is all." Ino waved off Izuku's concern with a wave of her hand. "He should be returning next week once he fully recuperates."

"Ah…" Izuku nodded, not pushing the subject further on. He kept his gaze on Ino in an attempt to get a better reading on her. "Do the both of you have your provisional hero license? Like Shikamaru?"

"Hm?" Ino tilted her head, she leaned forward to Izuku to cause the green-haired teen to blush massively and attempt to back away but to only hit a wall. "Er…?"

"How much did he tell you?"

"That he got his license when he was twelve!"

"Tch." Ino leaned away from Izuku, she didn't know who she was more disappointed at that moment in time. At the fact at how Izuku told information so easily or the fact Shikamaru had perhaps said too much for her own liking. "We both have ours."

Choji nodded in agreement, munching away on chips. "

"What else has Shikamaru told you?"

Izuku really wished he had kept his mouth shut as Ino stared him down, he slowly slid down onto the ground and began to fear for his life.

-.-

"What is wrong with this kid?" Izuku complained, checking himself out as he walked towards the main gate of U.A. with Choji following him, all the while carrying an unconscious Ino on his back. "I swear this kid's mind makes it so easy to take over."

"Ino, please go back to your body." Choji pleaded with his friend, he shifted Ino's body when he felt it began to slide in an awkward angle on his back.

"The guy blackout when he accidentally got a face full when that pervert knocked him into me. Not his fault." 'Izuku' said with a shrug, he twirled around and not at all caring at who was watching on. "I'm just helping a friend back home."

"Hey, Deku!"

'Izuku' and Choji looked over to see Katsuki marching towards them with, his own friends following along to make sure he didn't go overboard like usual or to watch on, on the latest reason for his anger. 'Izuku' threw Choji a smile that only caused the Akimichi to groan, he knew that smile. "Please… don't ruin his reputation…"

"Me? No~ His maybe."

-.-

Shikamaru leaned against a telephone pole, acting as inconspicuously as he could. It wasn't all that hard, he easily blended into his surroundings and no one paid no mind to him. He closed his eyes and listened in to his surroundings. All he heard are the cars that cruised along, televisions blaring out nonsense and the smell didn't help any of it. He missed home.

Home smelled like dry to damp earth depending on the time of year, flowers always seemed to be in full bloom, the air has a particular crisp to it that this place has nothing on it. If only he's allowed to go back home…

"Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru opened his eyes and turned towards the direction where his name was called out. He raised an eyebrow when he suddenly saw 'Izuku' standing in front of him, smiling and waving at him with an oh so familiar smile. "Ino… we talked abou… what did you do?"

"Oh? What makes you think I did something?" The giggles that escaped 'Izuku's' mouth only caused Shikamaru to shake his head. The guy must have done something to piss her off or wasn't physically able to go back home without extra help. It comes to be a combination of both at this point.

"What a drag." Shikamaru let out a troubled sigh, he pushed away from the telephone pole and headed down the sidewalk. He turned looked over to see Choji is blushing, couldn't even maintain eye contact with him. Turning his attention back at Izuku. "Ino… what did you do?"

"Me? What makes you think I did something?"

"…"

"…Okay, that grape haired pervert _accidentally _caused Izuku to push his face into my chest, and he blacked out after he apologized over a hundred times a minute." 'Izuku' deadpanned, placing one hand on his hip and the other motioning around him to add emphasis to his words. "We didn't want to leave him there, and it would have been suspicious if Choji carried Izuku, too much attention. This way, we could say I got tired and forced him to carry me. Plus… how much did you tell him about our past? Don't lie."

"Shit."

-.-

Inko peeked into her son's room, to see Izuku examining his lips in the mirror all the while muttering something about his lips looking fuller than usual. Letting out a comforting sigh, the mother softly stepped away from her son's room. He had arrived little more than an hour ago with the kids next door, muttering something about never be able to look at Katsuki's eyes ever again.

When Izuku said this, Ino apologized and quickly headed next door. It doesn't help Inko had heard how the blonde screaming at her friend, through the thick walls, about keeping secrets. She had considered going next door but didn't when the screaming stopped.

Maybe she'll make a desert and use it as an excuse to visit next door…

-.-

"What the hell do you mean you've been…. DAMMIT SHIKAMARU!"

Shikamaru sat on his bed as he watched Ino pace around the room, yelling and screaming at him. He told his friends what had happened to him in that alleyway, what he's been hiding from them in the last several months and even years. It doesn't help how Choji is sitting on his own bed, not even able to look at him in the eyes. "Insomnia got the better of me… and… hero work got the best of me."

Ino collapsed in front of Shikamaru and rested her cheek against Shikamaru's left knee. "We could have helped you…"

Shikamaru took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. He reached over and stroked Ino's hair, feeling his world began to crush around him once again. Feeling the bed dip next to him, Shikamaru's eyes flickered over to see Choji setting himself next to him, and he couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle. "I love you guys."

"We know."

To be continued…

R/R.


	9. Chapter 9

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

"_Can't believe I'm doing this…"_

"_Everything is set for Sensei to take over your responsibilities. He will be in contact if anything comes to his attention that requires your attention."_

"_I know… Tell me again why I am doing this?"_

"_Because you love me~"_

-.-

Shikamaru shoved his grade report in his backpack before anyone could take notice of it. Today, Aizawa-sensei released the rankings of class, showing everyone where they are in terms of grades. Everyone received their privately, but it quickly became evident in figuring out who has the highest and lowest in the class.

He found out Ino is tied with Momo ranking second while Choji is ranked eleventh in the class in terms of current grades. No one as of yet could get what his grade is but by the looks of suspicion everyone is giving him, they are starting to suspect what he is ranked compared to the rest of them. Even so, everyone should be studying and keeping a low profile, like he and the others are doing right now.

Keeping low… is a drag.

Ino has been making fast friends with the other troublesome women in the class, even going as far to invite them to the apartment for the occasional "Girl Time" or "Study Parties." Choji and himself were always kicked out at this time which resulted with them going to Izuku's apartment who's mother welcomed them with open arms. Thinking of Izuku…

The poor kid still has no clue what happened the other day and everyone that had witnessed what had happened refuses to bring it up. A small part of him feels bad for Izuku but the other part of him can't help but snort. Ino had to have seen something in Izuku's head to piss her enough to do what she had done. Looking over to see Izuku to only see him trying to get Katsuki from storming towards the Nara, with his own report clenched in his hands.

"LET ME FUCKING GO, FUCKING DEKU!"

"Don't do it, Kacchan! Could someone help me!" Izuku pleaded out, fortunately for him, Eijiro and Denki quickly came to the help.

Shikamaru didn't bother to hide a heavy sigh, he needed to go to one of the private rooms to have another therapy secession with his uncle who has special permission to visit the school for this very reason. Once a week. That was the deal he made with the man and it appears what they are doing are helping him deal with the nightmares and actually getting a full night of sleep. With a shake of his head, Shikamaru swung his backpack over his shoulder and made his way out of class.

Aizawa gave him a cut nod as he watched the teen leave the classroom, it was that time of the week and the student needed to do another therapy secession. At least the brat is dealing with his problems head-on right now than later in life. Perhaps he won't get mentally messed up like many heroes who refuse to seek help. Looking back at the rest of the class to see Bakugo being held back by his group of friends before he could attack Nara. Apparently, something about demanding to know just how smart Nara is compared to him. Eh, either way, from what he read in Nara's records… it will take a while for everyone to catch up to him fully.

-.-

"I still have visions of what happened to Asuma-sensei. He's blood… everywhere." Shikamaru looked down at his hands as he recounted seeing his mentor be killed off in front of him. "I spent the first few days wallowing, thinking over what could have been different. After talking to my dad… I spent the next two weeks planning on taking down Hidan and Kakuzo."

"Is this why you approached Naruto when Toad Sage was killed?" Inoichi sat across from Shikamaru as he wrote down notes. Both of them were one of the unoccupied lounge rooms that the principal allowed them to use for the therapy sessions Inoichi required Shikamaru to do. It is even noted Principal Nezu is working alongside the Yamanaka to extend the therapy sessions to anyone in the school that wishes to speak to him or whoever is here. Especially with what has been happening as of late.

"Yes. I knew what it was like to lose a mentor and we grew from that experience together. I… I got worried if I didn't do anything, then he'll do something very drastic."

Inoichi listened to Shikamaru words, taking note on how the tone of his voice shifted when he started to talk about Naruto Uzumaki, then about Kurenai, and his future god-child whom is due any day now. Then going on a tangent when he started to talk about another troublesome blond.

"The elders have been pressuring him to marry her off to ensure the bloodline stays pure. At this rate, we'd have to announce it to them one of the days."

"Does your father know?"

"To a degree, he knows about the possible engagement and plays the elders to play along."

"How did she manage to make you agree to it?"

"It wasn't like that. I was the one that had to convince her to agree to it."

"I can't believe it… fifteen and engaged."

"What a drag… not yet. It still needs to go through the elders first to have it approved to move the process along faster otherwise it'll be too much of a drag."

"Anything new happening in your class?" Inoichi changed the subject.

"…I have a fan club and one of the girls in the class keeps sending me weird signals."

-.-

Shikamaru walked back to Class 1-A, looking through a file his uncle gave him. It was primarily the results of his I.Q. exam Asuma-sensei had done on him without his own realization. His uncle gave him the file as a memento. A very thoughtful memento.

Stopping in front of the classroom door, Shikamaru took in a deep breath before he opens the door. When he opened the door, the Nara knew something was up when the entire room went silent and a good majority of them were giving him megawatt smiles.

"Number One Student eh, Shikamaru-kun?" Mina shot Shikamaru a wink.

Shikamaru shot Ino and Choji a look, they gave him a shrug or a troubled smile.

"How the fuck is lazy ass the number one student! He doesn't even look the fucking part! I bet Lazy Ass's I.Q. doesn't even reach fucking triple digits!"

"Over 200."

"200 what?"

"My I.Q. is over 200." Shikamaru deadpanned, he took out his I.Q. results towards Katsuki's direction. At this point, even knowing Katsuki's obvious temper but need to prove himself due to his superiority complex which heavily reminds him of some troublesome bastard back home. Then again… it is rather amusing to anger him. It only makes victory so much less troublesome "Over 200. I got tested."

-.-

The class continued on and it was… troublesome. Once it was announced finals were coming up and everyone was scurrying around trying to find someone that could possibly tutor them. Since it was found out he is currently rank number one in the class, nearly everyone is trying to convince him to partner up with them.

"With the finals fast approaching… Shikamaru could yo-"

"Sorry, Mina, but no." Shikamaru deadpanned, shutting down yet another classmate that attempted to ask for help yet again. The reason for turning her down has to do with the fact Ino already set a study group secession with several others, to have said group secession at the apartment. He wasn't interested in leaving the general area and dealing with people. Plus, he already has plans that day. "Go ask Ino or Momo. Heck, even Katsuki, just not me."

Mina pouted, she then smiled and wandered off to look for some else to help her study for the exams. Shikamaru scratched the back of his head when some of his classmates shot him a look but for the most part, he ignored it.

"Hey…Shikamaru…"

Shikamaru took in a deep breath, he looked down to see Mineta. "Whatever you want… it's a no. Go away you troublesome pervert."

"Jeez, what did I ever do to you?" Minoru questioned Shikamaru. "We should study together in your apartment!"

"As much I want Ino to maim you beyond measure… no. You don't have a clean track record when it comes to regarding women. I have too much respect for Ino to invite someone that would invade her privacy." Shikamaru stated with a stern expression that still retrained his typical tired persona.

"Come on, we're growing boys right?" Minoru attempted to nudge Shikamaru with his elbow but was left hanging when he saw Shikamaru began to glower at him. "I-I mean, don't you ever wonder about…?"

Shikamaru ignored how everyone was now paying attention to Mineta and himself. He reached down so that he could whisper into the other's ear. "Finish that sentence and I'll make sure it'll be the last thing you'll ever say. Her father is still in the building… and he doesn't like it when someone messes with his princess. Got it? Good, now turn around and head back to your desk and never bring this up again. It would too much of a drag to hide your body."

-.-

"Could we stay here? We got kicked out again." Shikamaru and Choji stood in front of Izuku's apartment with food in hand. Shikamaru has a giant bag of deer jerky his mother had sent him for the Midoriya's and Choji has made a giant cake as a sign of gratitude for taking them in whenever they get kicked out by Ino. Both of them wearing their casual clothing, Shikamaru in his black and mesh assemble. As for Choji, he's wearing a black and white stripe t-shirt with a long-sleeved mesh shirt underneath. A pair of long black cargo pants and a high collar unzipped red jacket.

Izuku couldn't help but chuckle nervously but accepted them never the less. "Come in. I hope you don't mind, Tenya, Shoto and Hitoshi are coming over to study for finals."

"It's fine." Shikamaru responded, he walked through the front door and took off his boots before he walked into the apartment. Choji followed his example and followed behind Shikamaru into the apartment. "How have you been?"

"Well…." Izuku looked up at the ceiling and wondered on how he should respond. For the most part, he's been extremely confused and wondering why he felt as such. It mainly has to do with what had happened when Ino once again took possession of his body again with her quirk. Since that day Kacchan has been more angry at him but less confrontational about it. Even going far as to ignore him and not even looking at him in the eyes. Their friends have been tight-lipped, but they keep trying to not laugh or give him looks of pity.

"Ino accidentally kissed Katsuki while she was in control of your body. She was aiming for his cheek to mess with him, but he moved in the last minute. I had to restrain him from killing the both of you and once I told him Ino was the one in charge… She more or less convinced him to never mention it otherwise he'll be the next victim to her games. He's more terrified of Ino than the fact he accidentally kissed you."

"…WHAT!"

-.-

"Tell us, Ino! Does Shikamaru-kun have a girlfriend!"

To Be Continued…

R/R.


	10. Chapter 10

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

"_I'll marry you, but you have to show yourself worthy of marrying me."_

"_Damn troublesome woman… what do you think I've been doing?" Shikamaru fiddled with his fur vest, showing how nervous he was standing in front of the recently turned professional hero. He stopped fiddling with his vest and stood up straight to show how determined he is. "I asked Lady Tsunade to take me in as her assistant, she agreed."_

"…_Wow… Finally decided to get off your lazy ass?"_

"_For you? Anything."_

-.-

Shikamaru let out an audible yawn as Aizawa showed a list of who passed or failed the written portion of the final exam. Everyone passed, but the point system that was placed, made it a tight fit as some needed to get a high grade in the practicals to fully pass the Final Exam. As for him, he managed to get a high enough grade to slack off if something goes wrong in the practical. Judging by the results… he's on the lead once more. Great. More attention.

"We passed!" Ino cheered, grabbing hold of Shikamaru and shaking him relentlessly. Shikamaru allowed this happen but had to put a stop to it when Choji joined into the mix.

"I'm going to hurl now…" Shikamaru muttered before he quickly stood up and ran towards the trashcan and puked out his breakfast. One of the many side-effects of drinking too much tea sadly. He lifted his head to see Aizawa-sensei waving at him to leave the class, he took upon his offer but he took the trashcan with him. "I'm taking this."

Ino and Choji glanced at each other, wondering if they should start to limit the amount of tea Shikamaru drinks. Sure, he's been approving mentally and physically, but the last thing they need is the Nara getting motion sickness.

"Yamanaka, is everything alright with Nara?" Shoto asked the blonde, turning around in his seat to look at her.

"How many times do I have to tell you, call me Ino and call Shikamaru by his name." Ino huffed out, crossing her arms over her chest. She rolled her eyes at him when she saw him staring at her plainly. "He's fine. We've been putting him on a strict diet of tea and we just found one that didn't sit well with his stomach."

"I told him to not drink too much, this would happen." Choji added in. "Still, at least he's doing better. Been sleeping more, he doesn't twist or turn anymore."

Taking note of the confused looks he was receiving from several of his classmates. Mainly those that have not to see the living situation the future InoShikaCho is currently living in. "Shikamaru and I share a room..."

Seeing more looks of confusion, Ino saved Choji from continuing on talking as the Akimichi started to back peddle when someone made an unruly remark. "The three of us share an apartment. They got the biggest room, but I got one just for myself."

"Hey, Blondie! If your dad is loaded, then why the fucking hell are you living next to Deku?" Katsuki gruffs out, challenging her with his snarling eyes.

"It was either living next to you or Izuku-kun." Ino smiled kindly at him, but her smile obviously matched the other blonde's challenge. "We prefer to keep our eardrums intact."

"Hah! Considering you screech at every possible mi-" Katsuki cut himself short and looked away when he saw Ino lift her hands in front of her in a familiar symbol. Nope. He wasn't going to allow the bitch to do that again to him. He's still trying to deal with the fact he 'kissed' Deku, or was it her? Gah! Either way, it was humiliating! At least he threatened everyone involved to not speak what had happened, for everyone's sanity and ears. For now. "Fucking bitch…"

"Aww…. is the baby pouting?"

"SHUT UP, YOU HAG!"

-.-

Yoshino Nara blinked at the silver tin that laid on top of her countertop, tilting her head to the side as she reread it's label several times. Her lips thinned as a realization hit her head-on. "SHIKAKU! YOU DUMBASS! YOU SENT THE WRONG PACKAGE TO YOUR SON!"

-.-

Shikamaru continued to puke out the remains of his breakfast into the trash basket under the watchful eye of Recovery Girl. Apparently, from what she heard in-between breaths and taking in all the information, she asked, "What tea are you drinking again?"

Shikamaru managed to completely empty his stomach and placed the trash can on the floor. He took a small cup that continued mouthwash from Recovery Girl and rinsed his mouth with it. After spitting it out into the trashcan, the Nara pulled out a folded-up piece of paper from his person and gave it to the nurse. "All the troublesome crap I'm currently taking."

The old nurse hummed at the list, taking note at the fact Shikamaru is mainly taking herbal or natural medicines, nothing out of the norm there… Considering how the Nara's are highly known for their pharmaceutical company but still retaining their background in natural remedies. "Hm… I want you to temporarily stop drinking the tea for now. If this persists, come back."

"What a drag…" Shikamaru clutched his stomach, he felt it grumble hungeringly.

"Here. Crackers and apple juice. This should help, once you feel strong enough, you could go back if you wish."

"Thank you… could you not tell my family?" Shikamaru asked hesitantly.

"…I want you in my office if anything changes, do not drag your feet. Understood?"

"Yes, mam." Shikamaru responded he stood up from the cot he was sitting on. He grabbed an empty trashcan from the room and took it with him on the chance his stomach decided to come back at him with an utmost vengeance. "I'll keep you informed."

Shikamaru left the room with his shoulders slouched downward, all he wanted to do now is find a spot and take a long nap. But no, he still needed to take the practical portion of the Final Exam. Taking in a deep breath, he walked through the halls of U.A. to get back to Class 1-A. To bad for him, as he made way up towards the staircase, he became surrounded by second and third years.

'What a drag… I don't have time for this.'

-.-

"Why is your jacket ripped, Shikamaru?"

"What happened to your hairband?"

"You look like shit."

"...I fell down a flight of stairs."

To be continued…

R/R.


	11. Chapter 11

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

_Shikamaru through his box that contained all of his schoolwork, personal files, and progress reports, it was one of the few items that survived Pain's Assault. His home did not make it, but at least the forest still stands and that's all his family needs at this moment. Right now, he's salvaging whatever he could to take with him for the move out of the village to continue his studies. The box only seemed to taunt him as memories of his mother always reprimanding him for getting low grades for things they both clearly knew has full knowledge of._

_It was all there in black and white… along with red. A lot of red._

"_I expect you to not slack off while you're out there, Shikamaru. We both expect high marks from you."_

'_Both…?' Shikamaru looked up to see his mother and Temari glaring down at them. They were towering over him, which gave them a good view of his progress reports… which mainly contained just barely passing grades. "Crap…"_

-.-

Katsuki glared up at the ceiling as he laid across on a bench with his arms crossed over his chest, demanding it to give him some sort of answer. He got partnered up with the biggest Dweeb in the class, the mere name just sends waves of anger through him. The problem was that he has no clue how to proceed forward. This was a fight that he cannot fight alone but his pride prevents him from working with others. Especially with someone who clearly hiding what they are fully capable of doing like that fucking Deku…

If that blond mind controller follows Dweeb command to a T, then the Dweeb is most likely holding back. Even going as far as to look up to him as if he's some sort of leader when she's the one that always took the lead in everything she does.

It wasn't that he was terrified or intimidated, it was the fact the Dweeb always showed the bare minimum and always seemed to come out on top, even if he does end up losing, he just a win for him. Only using his quirk when it pleases him, and this just pisses off Katsuki to no end.

The entire Nara Clan pisses Katsuki off to no end. Renowned for their high intelligence and their darkness/shadow manipulation quirk, but more so towards their views on Quirkless losers. Even going as far to fully accept those within their clan to become heroes even without a quirk. It disg-

"We need to think up a strategy to get through this exam."

Katsuki rolled his eyes. "I don't need yo-"

Coldness, a familiar sense of dread washed over Katsuki, reminding him when he was captured by that sludge villain. "Fu-"

"You're going to get yourself or someone else killed off one day with that troublesome attitude of yours." Shikamaru deadpanned, staring down at Katsuki while he used his quirk to subdue him.

"Fucker-" Katsuki managed to say before Shikamaru moved his shadow to cover his mouth.

"There are several troublesome women in my life that will beat my ass if I don't pass this exam. I don't pass, I don't get to go home for the break."

-.-

"He's trapping us in!" Ino called out as she avoided being crushed by falling debris. She pulled out some ninja wire from her person and launched it out towards Izuku to pull him out of the way before he got crushed. "You're going to have to carry me out of here. It's too dangerous for me to scale around using my tools."

"Got it." Izuku regained his momentum after Ino untangled him from her metal wires. He ran over towards her and carried her bridal style, up towards the rooftops using his cowl.

"There! An opening. HE'S USING A FLIPPING WRECKING BALL!"

Izuku eyes widened when he felt Ino jiggle in his arms, nearly slipping out of his grasp. "In-Ino! Careful!"

"Ah-ha!" Ino pulled out a compact mirror from her person. "This will do the trick!"

Ino began to pull at Izuku's hair. "Move in closer! I have an idea to distract him long enough for us to escape!"

-.-

Recovery Girl sweat drop when she saw Ino pull out a mirror from her person, wondering what the girl is planning. It all started to make sense when the teen reflected light into Nezu's eyes, causing the principal to go momentarily blind. This caused just enough of an opening for Ino to switch bodies with the principal, waving their hand in the air for Izuku to approach who is still holding onto Ino's body and the cuffs. The intercom announced their win when Ino, who is still possessing Nezu's body, cuffed themselves, announcing the end of their final exam with a win.

**Ino Yamanaka and Izuku Midoriya Passed!**

Recover Girl had to give it to them, the reason for this paring mainly had to do with a clash of personalities. It was either partnering them up or switch Ino with Katsuki, this was the better choice considering that Katsuki needed to learn his own lesson with his own partner for the Exam.

"_Next time, Izuku. You need to be more sure of yourself, stop doubting yourself. I know I still need to work on my own self-doubts but at least I know what I need to work on my own self."_

"_I-I'm sorry?"_

"_You need to be confident in yourself, otherwise one moment of hesitation will be your downfall. In the same time, you need to learn to take the lead like you did today even if you were terrified of speaking up, you still have a lot of work ahead of you before you turn Pro like All Might one day."_

Recovery Girl listened in to the conversation through radio, nodding along to Ino's words. This is exactly what Izuku needed to hear and learn.

-.-

Dressed in the U.A. gym tracksuit, Hitoshi wrapped around his capture weapon around his neck as he got prepared for the final exam. When it was announced on who he was partnered up with for the exam, he knew there was going to be trouble and he knew it was his fault. He doesn't even know how to approach Mashiaro about his past actions.

"Hey man, you ready?" Mashiaro slapped his hand on top of Hitoshi's shoulder, giving the other teen a grin.

Hitoshi could sense no hint of malice or annoyance. Of anything, the other guy is… being friendly. Giving Mashiaro his typical tired smile, Hitoshi replied. "Ready."

Oh no… he's making friends…

-.-

"Ahhhh!" Tenya yelled out as he tightly gripped onto Choji as the Akimichi grew to the size of a five-story building. "A warning would be much apricated next time!"

"Sorry! I knew we had to get to higher ground!" Choji replied he looked down to see the area below by his ankles suddenly be filled with pink mist. "Midnight just released her quirk. It's similar to what Ino does…"

"Do you have an idea in mind?"

"Heh, you could say that…" Choji reached over and plucked Tenya off his shoulder, then proceeded to move towards their primary goal. "Hide in my sleeves and try not to breath in the poison mist."

-.-

**Choji Akimichi and Tenya Iida Passed!**

Shikamaru lifted his head up at the announcement of Choji passing the exam. Good. His friend got a good partner for the exam, he'll have to get a copy of the fight to analyze the fight. Looking at his own respective partner for this exam, who are currently glaring at him with an utmost vengeance. Unfortunately for Katsuki, Shikamaru had stared down monsters and watched as they perished right in front of his eyes. "You got the plan?"

"It's a fucking stupid plan."

"That's why it's going to work."

"Tsk… Whatever. Let's get this fucking over with, Dweeb."

"What a drag… whatever you say, Sparky Sparky Boom Pants."

"I will kill you!"

"You do that, Ino will have you strip in front of the entire school."

-.-

Izuku couldn't help but gulp down nervously as he watched Kacchan and Shikamaru through the screens to see them argue. Okay, it was severely one-sided and Shikamaru didn't even raise his voice to make his own point. It appears to be a very volatile partnership, perhaps just as volatile as his own with Kacchan…

However… Izuku took in Kacchan's body language, taking note at how Kacchan kept inching around Shikamaru. What is going on?

"No, no, no! That idiot!" Ino snarled, slamming her hands against the railings. Her attention entirely focused on the screens.

"Wh-what's wrong Ino?"

"I know that tactic anywhere! I created that tactic those two idiots are going to use!" Ino pointed at the screen to emphasize his point. Izuku looked back at the screen but he couldn't see what Ino is saying. It just looked like Kacchan and Shikamaru having a one-sided argument while All Might stood their awkwardly. His eyes suddenly widen when he saw how Shikamaru kept inching towards the shadows of the buildings surrounding them and how Kacchan's hands would occasionally flare-up through the use of his quirk.

"What is are they planning?"

"You know how InoShikaCho has a long history of working together. Our quirks are designed to use each member's abilities in the best way possible to complement the others. Usually done in flawless accuracy…" Ino gave a brief backstory to her family's history connected to InoShikaCho. "Look at it this way… we all are skilled at stalling opponents. Right now, Shikamaru is dealing with someone that doesn't fully trust him and putting your trust into someone that dangerous."

Ino growled under her breath when she saw Shikamaru began the second step of the plan. "He's going to sacrifice himself, baka!"

Izuku couldn't help but remember that night back in that alley. Shikamaru had fought in a way that put in at a greater risk than the others. Even going as far as to demand the others to run away with Native, even going as far to put him in trouble to ensure they do not get the grunt of the attack.

Right now, Shikamaru is doing th-

**Shikamaru Nara and Katsuki Bakugo Pass!**

"Huh?" Izuku and Ino yelled out, as they attempted to figure out what just happened. "WHAT!"

-.-

All Might twitched, he can't believe he was just played. He walked into that trap, severely so. They were playing with him the entire time and… "Young Nara! Are you alright?"

"N-n-no… I-I think yo-you bro-broke a-a-a ri-rib is b-broken… T-two ribs…"

"Hah! I told you it was a fucking stupid idea!"

To be continued…

R/R!


	12. Chapter 12

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

"Tch…" Shikamaru didn't want to go to the Forest Lodge at the start of the break. He'd rather go back home and visit family and friends. They won't even have a vacation after the semester ended, it's right out to go train some more right off the bat. Ugh, he could already hear everyone back home nagging at him, will probably find a way to blame him for it. He already called his parents of the news of the training camp.

Shikamaru could hear the disappointment through the telephone, the plan to see him, Ino, and Choji returning home for the entirety of the break. They attempted to talk to their teacher, but he kept turning them down. It was a requirement. Troublesome requirement.

"You would be doing us a huge favor if you could take all our perishables. It would have been a waste to throw everything out." Ino took out items from the fridge and cabinets, putting them in a wooden basket. "Plus, with our plans on returning back home for the remainder of the break…"

"No, no, it's fi-Goodness! This is..." Inko gawked at one of the items Ino handed her. Fresh fruit, vegetables, and… meat! Not the cheap kind either, but high quality. Just the dozen strawberries would have cost her nearly the typical on what she usually gets on groceries. She knew the teens were living on their own with the support of their parents, but to get such items makes them wonder if they are handling their expenses. "Ino… How much do the three of you spend on groceries?"

Ino thoughtfully looked up at the ceiling, tapping a finger on her chin as she thought that over. When she gave an answer, it nearly caused Inko to fall over. "I know it may seem like a lot, but that's actually the bare minimum. Choji needs to consume more food due to his quirk and our parents always indulge him, but he's been making sure to not overdo it."

"It was one time!" Could be heard from somewhere within the apartment.

"It was one time too many, bub!" Ino yelled back, waving around a celery stick. "One time too many! We didn't have enough to replace our uniforms because of that!"

"Sniffle, sniffle… I'm sorry."

Ino let out a frustrated sigh, she put the celery stick in into the wooden basket. "I'm going to talk to Choji, take whatever else you want from the fridge, please."

Inko watched on as Ino ran out of the kitchen to where she presumed to be where Choji is currently located at. She couldn't shake off that feeling that she was missing something. Maybe it has to do with their upbringing as being children of Pro-Heroes? Looking at a picture that was in the fridge with random small magnets boarding around it, to make sure it stayed put. The picture looked worn but kept in pristine condition. There were three adults, each holding babies in their arms. From what she had seen on the television, newspapers and magazines, the three adults are the current InoShikaCho, each holding their respective children. There are more photos all over the fridge, showing a timeline between Choji, Ino, and Shikamaru of their childhood. The most recent photo contained just the three teens, all dressed in what she assumes to be their hero costumes.

Slam!

Bash!

Groans of pain…

"I TOLD YOU TO GET RID OF THAT!"

"What a drag…"

-.-

Izuku and Shikamaru looked through the former's collections of notebooks of _Hero Analysis for the Future. _There were only a few on the bus that paid no mind to this, others were wondering if Izuku finally got to Shikamaru in his nonsense, or just calling them a pair of nerds. Neither paid any mind, they kept going through notes and updating information.

"We normally don't do close-hand combat, preferring to remain in long to mid-range combat." Shikamaru reread the part where Izuku wrote on the Nara Clan. "However, if the times call for it, we do whatever is necessary to get the job done."

"Do you know how to fight in close combat?" Eijiro grinned, emphasizing his sharp teeth.

"More or less. I know enough to keep me alive." Shikamaru shrugged, he went back to reading the notebooks. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a wooden pencil case. Opening the case, he pulled out a pencil that looked like a branch and began to write down his own notes in the margins of the notebook.

Izuku looked over Shikamaru's shoulder to see what is being written down, his eyes widened at what he was reading. "Light source?"

"Complete darkness. No shadow manipulation." Shikamaru commented. "Unlike Fumikage and Dark Shadow, they grow stronger in the darkness, that is when I'm at my weakest… in terms of using quirks."

"Oh please~ You always have several tricks up your sleeve to produce a light source." Ino laughed, she gave Shikamaru a raised eyebrow wondering why he was divulging such information. "You did manage to capture an entire team with just using metal wiring."

"Or that one time you managed to hide from the Anbu after that _one _prank went wrong." Choji added in.

"It did not go wrong. It went right, it wasn't our fault they are sore over their own stupidity."

"Anbu?" Hitoshi asked, sitting across from Shikamaru and Izuku. "Aren't those like the underground police where you live? The ones where people are not supposed to know about?"

"I told you guys they are doing a horrible job." Shikamaru snorted.

"Don't look at me, Daddy works at T&I. Completely separate department."

"Doesn't your dad work there too, Shikamaru?"

"…Ye-"

The sound of children's laughter filled the bus, that was quickly followed by a woman's face calling out to someone in the background. Only more laughter seemed to follow and it stopped when Shikamaru pulled out a phone from his pant's pocket and answered a call. "Hi mom… No, mom… Yes, mother… Sorry, mom…. They're right here… is dad there?"

Everyone could hear how Shikamaru's voice risen just a margin, anticipation written completely on his expression. Then… it fell before the young Nara's expression shifted back to his typical one that is crossed of boredom and irritation. "Still busy…? I haven't talked to him since I came out here… No… it's fine… I'm fine… wh-"

Shikamaru handed the phone over to Ino and promptly allowed himself to fall backward, not even caring when he slammed his head against the window. He stared up at the ceiling of the bus, wondering why he even allows his hopes to go up so high before it freefalls to its own destruction.

Ino talked into the phone, wondering what is happening to her friend. "Auntie… Ah… I see… Still no headway…? Don't worry, I'll take care of lazy bones… Do you want to talk to Choji? Choji!"

Choji reached over and took the phone and whispered to into it, keeping his eyes on his friend.

'Dad isn't even staying at the village for the break…again'

-.-

Shikamaru stood by the edge of the cliff, overlooking that forest that has nothing on the Nara Forest back home. Taking in a deep breath, he could sense how some of the classmates he had grown closer to, were maintaining their respectable distance but are close enough for him to know they are there. "Why do I feel like someone troublesome is about to happen?"

Not even a minute later, it was announced Class 1-A had to transverse through the forest to the rest area in the middle of it all. All on their own.

Without much thought, Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji jumped over the railing and began to skid gaining momentum as they did. Once they gained enough momentum, Shikamaru and Ino jumped into the air free falling before Choji arms grew out capturing them and began to grow the rest of his body to even himself out. Once tall enough, Choji jumped and landed on the ground causing it to rumble. Unbeknownst to him, he caught a couple of stragglers…

"My stomach…" Minoru moaned out, clutching his stomach and unstick himself from Choji to only realize Choji is at the height of a three-story house. He attempted to stick himself back to Choji but the Akimichi shrunk down to his normal size which left Minoru to fall. When he got close enough to the Akimichi, Minoru grabbed hold of Choji's hair in an attempt to break his fall.

Choji blinked several times when he felt his hair being pulled back that was quickly followed by a scream of pain. "Who pulled my hai- well… this is bad?"

"Bad? Your hair is like barb wire!"

"That's because Choji, puts a special gel that causes it to be like that. Why didn't you use those sticky balls instead of your hands… idiot."

As the rest of the class made their way down, some gushing at the teamwork that was displayed before them. Especially Izuku who took out his notebook and writing down what he just saw. "Amazing, the three of your moved flawlessly, and to anticipate each other's movements!" Izuku continued on mumbling, making people groan at his habit.

"Guys… we have company."

-.-

It was becoming increasingly odd at seeing how easily Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru walked through the forest. They all fought against those earth creatures as they attempted to get to the camp. It wasn't fighting against the creatures that got them down, it was finding their way through the forest.

"How do you guys know where to go?" Rikido asked as he munched on some sugar cubes.

"Shikamaru is using his quirk," Shoto stated, pointing at said person's shadow. Everyone looked over to see Shikamaru's shadow merged with the forest own shadows.

"Range?"

"Long as there are enough shadows and if I feel like it… varies."

"What kind of fucking answer is that!"

"An answer."

To be continued…

R/R.


	13. Chapter 13

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

_Fatherhood is a… sore subject for several students of class 1-A. It became rather well known around the class to not talk about parents or upbringings unless the time calls for it or when mentioned. It was becoming increasingly known that Shikamaru father hasn't contacted him for who knows how long. Every call back home during lunch breaks, or whenever that phone rings, Shikamaru appears to become irritated or even detached when his father is not available to talk to._

_Increasingly evident that Shikamaru wants to talk to his father, and he longer wants to hear his mother saying to him that his father is busy to talk to him for once._

-.-

Day one of training is going rather… well? Everyone is doing their own things to help further along their respective quirks or skills. Some had easier or harder times than others compared to the rest of their respective classmates… Then there was one that was doing his own type of training…

"You consider this to be training?" Aizawa deadpanned, staring down at Shikamaru, who is laid on his back cloud watching.

"I'm cleansing my mind." Shikamaru answered, he cracked open an eye to see the man giving him a raised eyebrow. "I'm trying to figure out what I should primarily focus on my training. Should I increase my stamina, strength, combat tactics, practicing with my trench knives, kunai, and shuriken stars… endless of things to train."

"And your quirk…?"

"It connects to everything. Do you know how to play shogi?"

"…yes." Aizawa didn't like the way how Shikamaru smirked at him.

-.-

"How are you doing that!" Mina yelled out, causing everyone in her proximity to turn around to see Ino… walking up a tree. Literally walking up a tree. Far as everyone was concerned, her quirks did not allow her to walk up a tre… and now she's standing upside down on a branch.

Ino, who was paying no mind, is primarily focused on retrieving her needles from the tree. Her goal of the day, precision when under the effects of poisoning. Due to her secondary quirk, there are times she becomes affected and needs to find ways to fight through it. So far… she's doing rather well. Her aim is getting better and she isn't puking her guts out yet. Wait… nope, Ino gripped her stomach as a wave of nausea hit her.

Okay, break time.

Grabbing the rest of her needles, Ino put them in her utility pouch she has wrapped around her above her right knee. Reaching into her belt, she pulled out a violet pill before popping it into her mouth. An antidote to the poison she had inhaled earlier. Taking in a deep breath, Ino launched herself off the branch towards the ground, she tucked herself into a ball and unfurled herself as she got closer to the ground. With both feet and right arm, she slid across the ground with a heavy breath.

"Okay, I'm going to spend tomorrow rereading my notes. The pill is too weak." Ino mused as she stood up and did a mental checklist of her symptoms. Turning around, Ino was taken aback when she saw several of her classmates surrounded her, giving her questioning looks. "What?"

"How did you do that?" Mina pointed at the tree and Ino, going back and forth.

"Is was it connected to your quirk, Ino?" Momo asked.

"That was so cool!"

"How!"

"Was it a support item?"

Ino turned around to look at the tree and back at her classmates, wondering what they were talking about. When she finally got it, the Yamanaka pointed down at her ankle boots. "Stability Walkers. Only produced by Ten for Ten Support Weapons, only in Konoha, Suna, Kiri, Kumo, Iwa, and some other smaller villages. Plus… you're only allowed to get their items unless a Shinobi Registration Number… which you could only get them through their respective schooling systems."

"Damn, really?"

"You can't, and you can't make a copy of these without dealing with a copyrights law lawsuit." Ino made a pointed look over at Momo, who looked back at her sheepishly. "They have the sole patent in this, and any knockoffs don't even reach to the levels of Ten for Ten."

"That seems rather counterproductive for a Support Company." Momo stated, examining Ino's boots. "Is it the booth as a whole or simply the soles? How come you never used them before until now? Imagine if they were mass-produced…"

Ino shot her a smile as she shrugged at her general direction. "They primarily work with schools to ensure everyone has a fair chance to become a hero with the right tools and weapons."

"What else do they make?"

"Hehehehe…." Ino giggled evilly, oh now is the perfect opportunity to distract them. "Well… they make, kunai, shuriken stars, needles, ninja wire, katanas, tanto's, armor… Let's not forget the average price range of all the items."

"Okay, how much does the average for those stability walkers?"

"Well… 35,000,000 to 1,000,000, it mainly va-too much?" Ino asked when she saw everyone blanch at hearing the price. "Don't even get me started on modifications."

There was no way in hell anyone is even capable of getting a pair of those shoes in that price range, ran through many of Class 1-A's minds.

"Er… Ino, how much did your cost?"

From a distance, Choji and Izuku were training near them, it was mainly Choji helping Izuku iron out his fighting stances. They will still close enough to hear Ino going on about the Support Company Ten for Ten.

"The company… Tenten primarily makes the weapons they sell?" Izuku asked after dodging an upcoming attack. "She's a second-year at U.A.?"

Choji pulled back, his arms still in front of him but now going on defense. "Shikamaru told me you trained under Rock Lee for a short while. But yea… Her parents run Ten for Ten, they named her after the company. Her family is an old traditional family of blacksmiths that transformed themselves to fit in Modern Times. How much did Lee tell you about her?"

"That she gives you guys free support items?"

"Ah…" Choji deadpanned. "She actually makes us test out her babies on us before they hit the shelf. In exchange of free stuff… Believe me, it sucked when we were all younger. I still have the scar when one of her previous designs failed horribly on me. But it did get my clan a massive discount on the Expansion Staffs… I don't know if that was a good or terrible thing to think about…"

Izuku bit the insides of his cheeks when he saw Choji drone under his breath of all the times Tenten's support items failing massively during the testing stages and how he got the brunt of it all. He couldn't help but be reminded of all the times he mumbled to himself.

-.-

"How…" Aizawa couldn't believe his eyes, he lost several games shogi in a row. Sure, he might not be considered to be the world's greatest player, but he could hold his own. Not against Shikamaru Nara though… The kid easily saw through his plan, game after game. Whenever he attempted to change tactics, Nara already had devised a counter-attack against him.

"Wow… you suck."

Shikamaru and Aizawa looked up from the board game to see Hitoshi looking over the board with a bored expression. "What?"

"There's some creeper kid looking for you, Aizawa-sensei. Something about Class 2-A?"

"…Could you describe him?"

"This high, red hair, very baggy eyes, has a tattoo like scare of the left side of his forehead? Ringing any bells?"

"…Oh no, no, no, no, no..." Shikamaru started to move away from the board, he kept looking around the area as he tried to make his escape. Emphasize on try.

"Nara Shikamaru…"

"What a drag..."

To be continued…

R/R.


	14. Chapter 14

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

_It quickly becomes known all throughout Suna, if you need to report to someone on the act, behavior or simply are worried for the well-being of the Sand Siblings, you report it to Baki. Reporting them to their father is useless._

_Utterly useless._

_The eldest, Temari learned rather quickly to not care of her father's reputation. If anything, she hates it. Hates how people fear getting close to her due to the man's reputation, along with people wanting to use her to get to him. Along with abusing her youngest brother, trying to turn him into a weapon…_

_Kankuro hates the fact without his war paint(make-up), all he sees in the mirror is that bastard. He couldn't take the fact how people whispered, glared, and even called him out on how much he looked like **his father**. Those that glared at him, knew Rasa's true nature and the others were blissfully unaware how much of a fiend that man is._

_Gaara… no one could blame him for his own personal hatred for his father. Having a quirk transferred into his body when he was still in his mother's womb, causing the woman to die during labor due to complications. Killing his uncle in self-defense when the man attempted to kill him, along with all those would-be assassins his father sent after him. He hates how the people of Suna still look up to him despite the fact… he's more than a monster than himself._

_When it became clear to Rasa that he rather spend his energy and time in running Suna, he had some random hero to nanny the three brats. What many knew at this point, whoever was appointed as the caretaker of the Sand Siblings, they usually are found dead within a week or less…_

_Not this one. Rasa had every intention of having this caretaker, who could very well be a possible rival in the impossible games of politics, it wasn't happening. Especially after the entire village had watched on as Baki carrying a napping Gaara on his back as they walked throughout the village with the rest of the Sand Siblings, trailing behind as they talked about their day._

-.-

"First off… What the hell! He's trying to kill you, Shikamaru!"

Gaara No Sabaku stood in front of Class 1-A, dressed in U.A.'s P.E. uniform with a giant gourd tied around his body with a long red sash. His arms were crossed over his chest, his death like stare caused several to shiver in fear or anticipation is yet to be known. He kept his attention upon a sand pillar he created which kept Shikamaru in place with no chance of escaping.

"You're marrying my sister." Gaara stated his voice as monotone as ever.

"Is that a threat, or a statement?" Shikamaru responded with an eyebrow raised.

"Both." Gaara answered, his lips twitched nearly giving the Nara an amused smile. "Temari told me of everything after the Elders approved of the marriage… brother."

"Marriage?"

"Elders?"

"Sister?"

"He's marrying the new guy's sister?"

An image of a female version of Gaara ran through the minds of Class 1-A, some didn't know what to do with this information….

"It went through! Yes! Our boy is becoming a man, Choji!" Ino cried out, she had somehow pulled out a handkerchief from her person and began to dab the tears away.

"He's going to forget about us, Ino…" Choji sniffled, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands.

"What a drag, I'm not getting married until I get out of high school dammit! Could you please put me down? I'm starting to lose feeling in my fingers. Troublesome politics…"

'Politics…'

-.-

"Did he threaten to kill you if you didn't agree to marry his sister?" Denki asked Shikamaru as they sat in the boy's section of the hot springs.

"No, he's a… good friend." Shikamaru replied before dunking his head fully into the water in an attempt to wet his hair enough to keep it down. Once he came back up, he saw Denki, Minoru, Mashiaro, and Rikido giving him looks of disbelief. Looking around, he saw Eijiro attempted to not to drown as Katsuki kept repeatedly dunking his head into the water all the while threatening to murder Izuku. Without saying a word, he pointed over at Katsuki's direction.

The four teens turned around to see what Shikamaru was pointing at, they couldn't help but sweatdrop, okay, point taken.

"Gaara, over here." Choji called out from his spot from the hot springs. Everyone turned their heads to see Gaara walking toward the water with a towel around his waist.

Gaara sent Choji and Shikamaru a curt nod before he went over and sat on the edge of the hot spring so that he was next to the Nara. Dipping only his feet into the water, he could sense how several of the students did not know how to act around him… it reminded him too much of his past.

"Thank you for what you are doing for us, Shikamaru…" Gaara whispered low enough so that only Shikamaru heard him. "I… I hope you two grown to love each other."

"What a drag… I wouldn't have done it if I didn't feel that way towards her." Shikamaru patted Gaara's knee in a sort of awkward reassurance. "Which reminds me… why in kami's name are you here?"

"Temari threatened to replace all my sand with magic magnetic sand." Gaara droned, he reached down and began to wet his arms. "Father… doesn't mind the engagement. But says it looks more like a respectable political move than anything else."

"Rasa can go fu-"

"Baki. Baki is worried that people will assume this is a political move. He doesn't want the stress to possibly ruin something amazing for Temari."

Ah… Baki. The primary caretaker of the Sand Siblings of Suna, and now the official adoptive father after their birth father lost custody of them under unknown reasons to the public. Goodman.

"I kn-"

"GIRLS! BOOBIES! They are waiting for me!"

Gaara turned his head to see that grape haired student going on about the girls on the other side of the wall and a taller teen wearing glasses, reprimanding the other teen for his behavior. His eyes narrowed when he saw how the short teen began to climb up the wall with those sticky balls. Before the pervert could even get halfway up the wall, sand erupted from the garden that surrounded the hot springs and grabbed hold of him. Minora was hoisted up into the air, as the sand around him formed a giant sand-like hand.

"As much of a drag he is… I don't want you going back to prison." Shikamaru deadpanned, reaching over and poked Gaara's temple. It caused several of the other teens to flinch or do a double-take at Gaara.

Arm still extending out, hand open and Minora swore when Gaara slowly closed his hand into a fist, the tighter the sand got around him. Then… the sand let him go and he fell in the water with a loud splash.

"You call yourself a hero…"

"Finally, someone actually fucking do something freaking right."

-.-

Shoto was at a lost, he had found himself sitting underneath a tree. The sun was out but it was enough for it to hide him in the shadows to allow him to contemplate his thoughts and actions on a supposed friend.

Having recently found out Shikamaru is apparently in an arranged engagement that will most likely lead to marriage. It struck a nerve within himself, remembering how his own parents' marriage. How his father forced his mother's family to agree to the marriage. How it was only done due to that _man's _desire to beat All Might that caused so much pain…

"I am… surprised you came up with this idea. Engagement."

Shoto eyes widened momentarily, breaking him out of his thoughts. He did not move a muscle as he did not want to be found by who is currently talking. Luckily, they were on the other side of the massive tree.

"Once she told me Rasa planned to have her marry off for…"

Pause.

"You didn't know?"

"I knew Father had plans but never to act on them…"

"This time he did. What a drag… I talked to my dad, he and Baki quickly made plans to go around Rasa's back to get them on board with the plan. It only took off once Temari said yes to the possibility of marrying me."

"If she had said no?"

"I already had two other plans, but it would have involved a lot less political play and more stepping on everyone's toes…"

"What would have you done if the elders did not agree to it?"

"You and I both know the elders hate Rasa just as much the four of you hate him. Doing this will just be a way of rubbing it in his face."

"Why? Why are you helping us? Why…"

Longer pause. Shoto could sense the tension in the air.

"I… what a drag…her smile. I fell for her troublesome smile. Don't tell her I told you this, my mom already threatened if I mess this up, she'll beat me till I'm black and blue… then she'll send me to you and Kankuro to finish the job."

"…Heh… Good."

"Now…why are you actually here? It doesn't make sense for you to be here?"

"She's worried. More so than usual… especially after Yoshino-sama told her of your condition."

Groan. "Troublesome… I'm okay."

"You have yet to take a nap in the short time I've been here, let alone slept through the night…"

A list of telltale signs of how one Shikamaru Nara is anything but okay continued on.

"You're troublesome… you know, that right?"

"I know."

To be continued…

R/R.


	15. Chapter 15

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

"_He would have wanted you to have these…" Kurenai handed Shikamaru back a pair of trench knives the belonged to her late husband. "Keep them."_

_Shikamaru hesitated momentarily before he placed the weapons back on his person. "I will hand them down to Mirai once she's old enough to train with them."_

_Kurenai held her infant daughter closer to her, she hummed in approval at Shikamaru's promise. "Of course…"_

-.-

Shikamaru and Gaara went up against Izuku, in close range combat. The former of the two needed training in, with latter needed advice on his style. So far… it was going rather well. Both of them are still alive, despite the fact they have been avoiding Izuku's direct attacks like a bat out of hell. The two could easily recognize how he took Lee's training to heart and made it his own.

Shikamaru slide across the ground, breathing in deeply, the Nara had to commend Izuku for making great strides in his training. Even if he's not one that specializes in close-range combat, he's seen masters of the art and the Nara could see the knack the hero-hopeful has for it. A knack…

"You're becoming predicable." Gaara stated as he dodged a low-sweep by jumping into the air before he landed back on the ground and jumped backward to gain space between them.

"The longer the fight is, the more predictable you are becoming." Shikamaru yawned, he stood up from his spot and stuck his hands in his pant's pockets. "The longer the fight goes on, you're going to be coming to predicable."

Izuku got out of his fighting stance and out of nowhere, pulled out a notebook and began to jot down their critique and suggestions. Gaara and Shikamaru ignored how he began to voice out his thoughts as Izuku wrote in the journal.

"You're improving…" Gaara murmured low enough for Shikamaru to hear him.

"So, have you… Kazekage…" Shikamaru teased, giving the other teen a smirk.

"…I'm surprised no one has made the connection yet… especially him."

"Izuku? He only knows what is shown on the news. Your inauguration wasn't exactly publicized…"

"True…"

"Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru turned his head to see Izuku pointing at the Nara with an expression with complete determination. "Yes?"

"Didn't you mention you and all of your friends had originally planned to go back to your home village right?"

"Yes…?"

Izuku took in a deep breath before he bowed deeply. "Would you consider allowing me to tag along in hopes of furthering my training! I would forever be grateful."

"You're going to severely regret asking me that." Shikamaru deadpanned, he turned to look at Gaara to only see the redhead looking away from him. Even so, he could see the other teen hiding a smirk. Of course, he is…

-.-

Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji sat around a small table and were cutting up the meat for tonight's dinner. Today's meat wasn't precut, it needed at least some sort of expertise to cut it and Choji volunteered them to do the work. The three have some experience with working in the kitchens of the famous Akimichi's Restaurants or Butcher Shops, every summer growing up.

That and the meat is extra bloody, and it made a lot of people queasy. Wimps…

"So, we have one more exercise after dinner, I wonder what the teachers are going to make us do." Ino mused she got out a small sanding stone to sharpen their now dull knives. "I overhead Mandalay talking about how the forest is cleared for tonight's training."

Shikamaru looked around the area to see everyone at work or overseeing said work being done. What he did note is that Ragdoll is nowhere to be seen, and the rest of the Wild, Wild, Pussycats took note of this, but it appeared to not raise any sort of alarm bells. There was something in the air that is causing the hairs at the back of his neck to rise. Something wasn't right…

"You feel it too?" Ino said under her breath for only her friends to hear her.

Choji only hummed and nodded in confirmation.

"Keep an eye out for anything troublesome."

-.-

Shikamaru clutched his chest as he watched blue fire enveloped the forest around the training camp. Remainders of when the village being under attacked began to resurface in his mind. Taking in several deep breaths, the Nara immediately calmed himself down and began to quickly think of several plans to deal with this situation. He quickly looked around to see Aizawa making Mandalay relay the message that everyone is not to engage with any unknowns that apparently sneaked into the training ground.

This wasn't going to stop Shikamaru, the others don't have the proper credentials but he and three others in the forest do. He didn't bother to listen to Aizawa call for him to not go into the forest, the Nara's main focus is making sure no one dies. There's enough blood seen by him to last a lifetime.

"Nara! Get back here!" Shikamaru heard Aizawa yelled out to him but it went ignored as the teen jumped up towards the treetops to gain momentum.

"Dammit." Aizawa cursed as he watched Shikamaru Nara run headfirst into the forest. He's going to get an earful once he gets back alive. Even so, he knew the brat is far more capable than what he actually lets on. From what he read on the teen's file, the brat never runs into anything without a plan. "He better stay alive… the last thing I need is his father going after my head."

-.-

Ino narrowed her eyes as the forest began to be enveloped in pink poisonous gas. She took one deep whiff of it and let out a snort. "Weak. Anko-senpai would have eaten whoever made this alive."

"How are you able to breathe this shit in?" Came out the muffled questions of her partner for the training exercise. Ino looked over to see Hitoshi covering his face with his capture weapon in an attempt to not breathe in the pink cloud that is quickly surrounding them.

Ino rolled her eyes at Hitoshi's question, she reached into her pouch that was around her waist and pulled out a vial and a needle. "Don't move. This will make things easier for you."

Hitoshi took a step back, debating if Ino has finally lost her sanity.

"Remember second poison-flower quirk? It makes me partially immune to most poisons, venoms, and the average toxins. I managed to train it to the point I could easily breath this-" Ino waved her hand around and the pink cloud began to dissipate around them. "in and not have it affect you… as bad. I could only get rid of it so much without alerting whoever is controlling this."

"Tsk… fine."

"Good, now get over here!"

-.-

Choji and Rikido carried whoever they came across through the forest over their shoulders to safety. It was becoming a struggle as they were running away from a creeper whose quirk has to do with his teeth… very sharp teeth. Luckily, but really, unluckily, Mezo and Fumikage gave them enough of an opening to allow them to escape.

They both let out a sigh of relief once they got to the camp to only realize there were more goons than thought.

"Rikido…" Choji warned his friend before tossing all of the teens he was carrying to the other teen before charging in to protect Pixi-Bob before she got her head smashed in with a large blunt weapon. Luckily, he made it in time before the Pro-Hero was dealt with heavy damage.

"What the hell? Hmm, what do we have here? A Fatass?"

"Man…."

"I'm a woman!"

"Woman! I will end you!"

-.-

Gaara was debating on whether or not he should kill Minoru and no one would be the wiser to assume the villains did the deed. No. Him killing people, unless they were villains or very horrible people, is a no can do for him anymore. No killing… no killing…

"We're doomed!"

"What kind of hero are you?" Gaara asked with a deadpanned expression. Not even bothering to wait for a response, he stood up from his hiding spot and followed that creature, dubbed Nomu, that is terrorizing through the area. "I'm going after the Nomu… Don't get killed while I'm gone."

"You can't leave me here alone!"

"I can… I just did."

-.-

"Why is it always troublesome blonds!" Shikamaru ranted as he ran away from Himiko Toga while she threw out random knives his way. "Stop chasing after me troublesome woman!"

"Come back~ I want to taste your blood!"

"What a drag…"

To be continued…

R/R.


	16. Chapter 16

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

_Shikamaru hung his head as he waited in the waiting room, waiting for an update on his friends. They had just returned from a failed mission, and he's the only one that has minor injuries… everyone else is in extensive surgery and fighting for their lives. He remembered seeing Choji as he was being wheeled in, he looked for frail and sickly thin. Neji wasn't fairing any better, h heard the guy has three holes in his body that needed to be closed up other wise he's going to bleed out. Kiba's wound is severed but the Inuzuka's main worry is for Akamaru, who's tendons were all cut. Then… there's Naruto…_

_Shikamaru only tightly gripped his head, wondering how much hate someone could have to leave someone in such a state. He doesn't even know if the blonde is even going to survive at this point, he even heard several nurses talk about how there's no way he'll survive._

_This was his first mission being a pro-hero and he failed massively._

_-.-_

"Shit, shit, shit, shit…" Hitoshi cursed under his breath as he, Ino, Itsuka and Tetsutetsu ran through the forest in an attempt to look for Shikamaru and Katsuki. The four of them had just found out the villain's main targets and it wasn't good. Ino had used her quirk to read the mind of Mustard and what she saw caused great worry with her and the others once she explained what she saw.

"This was just a distraction, they just wanted to get those two during the chaos!" Ino stated, she would have been jumping from branch and branch, but that would be too much of a risk. They don't know where all the other villains are at this point and they needed to stick together. "Of course that was the flipping plan!"

"Why would they go after them?" Itsuka huffed out, she was still dealing with the after-effects of Mustard's gas. "Sorry, but I get why they would go after Bakugo but why Nara?"

"That's what I want to know."

-.-

Darkness. Complete darkness and this wasn't his doing. Shikamaru wondered how he allowed himself to be captured so easily, he could only curse himself to oblivion and now he has to think. Taking in a deep breath, he allowed the darkness to consume him entirely and it helped him think through on what he should do next.

Then there's light and Shikamaru let out a loud oomph when he landed on the hard ground. Looking around he realized he was surrounded by the villains and Katuski landed next to him. Up ahead of them are his classmates, watching on with complete fear in their eyes. The only one that appeared calm is Gaara who kept his gaze on the villains. Eye contact was made and a mental agreement was made between them.

-.-

Shikaku looked through the files that were salvaged from the former ruins of the agency. It has been several months since the attack and luckily, reconstruction is nearly done. With the help of the Leaf's allies, things progressed smoothly and InoShikaCho Agency is built back up to its former glory. Now all they have to do is figure out what could be salvaged or what needed to be replaced.

For example, Shikaku is going to need to need new filing cabinets and he misses the low coffee table which he would always hit his shins on. Shikamaru would always use play on that table when he was a kid and it brought back fond memories, but not it was destroyed. Maybe he could find one or get a former client to make him a new one… Which his the reason why he's currently on a train to go make a surprise visit to his son.

He may or may not had Yoshino lie to their son stating he wasn't going to stay at the village for the break, but that was just part of the surprise. He just needed to do some last minute paperwork on the train ride so that Shikaku is free for the entirety of the break.

Ring~ Ring~ Ring~

Shikaku reached over and picked up his cellphone, he didn't bother to look at the caller id when he answered it. "Nara."

What was said on the other side of the line, it caused Shikaku to loosen his grip on the phone causing it to drop down to the metal floor with a clank and the files on his lap slipped off his lap with papers going everywhere.

No.

No…

Just no…

NO!

-.-

Katsuki looked down at his hands as he recounted what had happened the other night. That idiot, that fucking idiot saved him while giving himself up to the villains. The dumbass sacrificed himself to rescue him from getting kidnapped. He has the opportunity of saving himself, but no, the guy played hero and now he's who knows where.

Clenching his hands into fists, Katsuki thought over what he needed to do to bring that moron back. There was no way he's going to allow some nobody shows him up!

"Bakugo, you okay bro?" Eijiro asked, peaking his head into his friend's hospital room with a look of determination.

"What the fuck does it look like, dumbass!" Katsuki yelled at the redhead.

Pause. "Good, come on. We need to talk to others. Everyone that has been released is meeting up in Midoriya's room."

"For what?"

"Just come on."

With a grumble, Katsuki ripped the blankets off of himself and putting on a pair of slippers that were given to him for his stay at the hospital. He followed his friend out of the room and towards Deku's room. It was silent between the both of them and the air around them is tense. As they are about to walk pass hallway, they suddenly heard screams and shouts causing them to turn their attention to. What they saw made their eyes widen in complete shock.

-.-

Most of Class 1-A had made up their assumptions on Shikamaru Nara's father. Whenever he was made mention, Shikamaru's whole demeanor would go down and wouldn't say anything. If anything, he doesn't even seem to care for his son's progress. Every phone call from or to home, Shikaku Nara is never at home to talk to his son and that light in his son's eyes slowly die off.

Shoto Todoroki couldn't help but be reminded of his own supposed relationship with his own father. He couldn't help but develop a great dislike towards the man. He watched on as his new friend would become despondent after hearing how his father is nowhere around when he wanted to communicate with him. In his eyes, it got so bad that there was little to no hope left whenever a phone call made only to hear how the elder Nara is not around.

Right now though, it made Shoto take a step back as he watched on as Shikaku Nara is being held back by security so that he doesn't outright murder Aizawa-sensei. The said teacher is now sporting a bloody lip and broken nose as he was attacked by one of his student's father.

This wasn't like the man Shikamaru had always described his father to be. He was supposed be an older version of himself, but far more merciless and it showed as Shikaku continued to fight off the people that have a hold on him to continue his attack against Aizawa. Then, the Nara entire visage shifted from complete anger to one that lacked complete emotions.

"I'd take Aizawa-san to get tended to for his wounds…" Inoichi Yamanaka stated as he made an appearance, he maintained eye contact with his friend. He was using his quirk to control pacify Shikaku for the time being. He could sense how his friend has so many emotions of regret and right down fury. They all had planned on sending their respective children out of the village to protect them but it backfired for them tremendously. Normally, this was something they've dealt with in their own agency, close friends and family, but this hit far too close to home especially with what happened to Shikamaru. It is very reminiscent of how the Nara lost his father.

Someone could hold in their emotions for so long before they break.

As Aizawa walked past Yamanaka, the blonde whispered under his breath for him to hear. "Keep us informed, we plan on being there for the rescue."

Aizawa paused for a short moment before he continued on his way to get his wounds tended to.

Shoto slowly turned on his heel and headed towards Midoriya's room, his original destination.

To be continued…

R/R.


	17. Chapter 17

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

"_You two are never going to be worth anything."_

_Shikamaru stared up at his academy instructor, hating how the man's sickly sweet smile. This wasn't the first time someone had made the comment to him, he was a rather easy target to those that hated his father and the fact everyone keeps thinking he's quirkless. Even if people are treated equally with or without a quirk, there are still…several individuals that do not share that view. For example, the supposed nice academy instructor._

_It was one thing to say something to him, but to say it to his friend. That was a huge no-no. Looking over at his friend, he motioned for him to go elsewhere. After all, it wasn't a school day and the man had cornered them just to say those words. Wasn't the first time either… Well, they would leave but it appeared the horrible man had brought along several **friends **to back him up. Many of which Shikamaru recognized to be the ones that hold very horrible grudges against Naruto for whatever reason. Taking in a deep breath, Shikamaru motioned for his friend to hide behind him. "You guys are troublesome…"_

_It was later that week Iruka Umino became the new Academy Instructor and he began to wonder why everyone seemed to fear the young Nara Heir…_

-.-

Shikamaru took in a deep breath as he tried to figure out why he was picked by the League of Villains. Far as he was concerned, he made it rather clear when he went up against Stain that he was a huge no go for villainy. If they wanted someone with a Shadow quirk, they could have just captured anyone from his clan. Capturing him is a horrible mistake, considering who he's directly related to.

"We've heard you went up against the Zombie Duo…"

Ah... of course, that's going to bite him in the ass in some way or another.

-.-

"Ino, Choji, and Gaara are going to be giving us information from their side. We'll use it to help us get Shikamaru out of there."

"How sure are you, Akimichi-san and Yamanaka-san will be able to do so?"

"They are Shikamaru's closes friends and comrades, they will come through with the information."

"Tell me again, why the fuck are you leading us?" Katsuki cursed out, glaring at the small group that was created to locate and retrieve Shikamaru Nara.

Izuki expression turned serious but before he could respond Shoto bluntly stated. "You're only here because you're furious Shikamaru saved you."

"Tch, what the hell did you just say, Icy-Hot!" Katsuki growled out to the red-white head.

Fumikage only shook his head. "This is not the time to fight within ourselves, we have clear our heads of this darkness to rescue our friend."

"Shh! Ino is calling." Eijiro hushed everyone before he put his phone on speaker.

"_Eijiro? Do you hear me?"_

"You're on speaker."

"_Good. Both targets are in the same general location. I repeat both targets are in the same general area."_

"Understood."

"…_The moment you find an opening, get Shikamaru out of there. Do not fight, none of you have a license to fight without getting in a massive amount of trouble. Tenya, I expect you to get Izuku and Katsuki out of there before they get in trouble, understood?"_

"You have my word, Yamanaka-san!"

"_Izuku, I expect you to come up with a plan to get him out of there. You spend a fair amount of time to know Shika and his quirk to use for your advantage."_

"Of course."

"…_good luck and don't die."_

-.-

"Did you tell them?"

"I told them what they need to know, it's up to them to retrieve Shikamaru if things go wrong on our end." Ino put away her phone in a pouch that was on her waist that was part of her hero costume. "Daddy, how long until Uncle Choza gets here?"

"One hour, after that we head out to the meeting to discuss the mission." Inoichi stated as he fixed his own hero costume which consisted of a black suit, a long black trench coat, leather booths, and a pair of arm guards. It was the uniform he adopted to wearing since he started to work in T&I and it fit rather too well to his style. "…Along with Temari."

"…If he doesn't survive this, she'll end up killing him for allowing himself get captured…" Ino muttered to herself, she turned her head to see Shikaku silently conversing with Choji. The Nara is donning his own hero suit, which consisted of a short-sleeved mesh t-shirt, a standard dark forest green flak jacket with a deer hide vest over it, a pair of black pants and boots. Nothing over the top, very similar taste to right about everyone in the Nara clan but it suits them very well. "I hope the others manage to get Shikamaru out of there if things don't go well on our end…"

"Have faith in your friends, until then, I need you to tell them this…"

-.-

"This is a shitty idea." Katsuki deadpanned as he fixed the cuffs of his long-sleeved dress shirt that was part of his disguise.

"I don't know, I like this." Eijiro grinned as he fixed his own disguise, he nudged Katsuki's side which earned him a glare.

"Remember to play the part." Momo chided them before she played her own part of her own disguise.

"We should be getting to the location for less than twenty minutes. We should hurry."

-.-

Gaara fixed the lather band that is holding up his sand gourd, double-checking it was secured properly. Dressed in his costume which consisted of a long-sleeved crimson coat, full-length dark trousers with a pair of sandals. Over the coat, he is wearing two buckled belt, a grey like a vest, both of which are the things that are holding up the gourd. Once he made sure it was buckled upright, the redhead turned to head out of the room. He needed to find the other to figure out what was the next set of plans.

Gaara is going to make sure Shikamaru comes back alive for the sake of his sister. There was no room for remorse, they all knew the consequences of being a hero and this was something both parties agreed about. At least with the Nara being captured by the villains could use his brains to figure out what they are planning. Mental manipulation, let's hope no one figures out Shikamaru's game.

"Gaara, it's time."

"Of course…"

-.-

All Might is at a complete loss, wondering why Shikamaru Nara was taken by the League of Villains. Far as he knew, the young hero in training never did anything that caused him to stand out and the only thing that did stand out was when he went up against Stain. Besides that, he has nothing remarkable in his background… far as he knew…

"Is everything set?"

"The moment the news conference start, the attack on the villain's base will commence, Nara-san."

All Might turned around and couldn't help but blink owlishly at the sight of the man that is talking to Shota, oh, it's Shikaku-san. Oh… no… it's Shikaku-san. The Might Hero slowly began to tiptoe away so he wasn't caught by the Shadow Wielder Hero, the man terrifies him and he doesn't want to risk it right now.

"Don't move."

All Might freeze mid-step, felt no longer able to move. It appeared he got captured by Shikaku-san's shadow. "O-of course, Shi-Shikaku-san."

"Go find Ino, she'll help you hide the bruises." Shikaku stated before he turned around which in turn caused All Might to turn around as well. All Might saw Shota's eyes widen momentarily before he walked off, he needed to get ready for the news conference. Now it was just All Might and Shikaku. "Power down, save your energy. No one else is here."

Pause. Smoke emitted around All Might and in his place appeared Toshinori Yagi. "Ah… Hello, Shikaku-san…"

"It's not your fault, Yagi."

"But…" Toshinori pointed at the place where Shota once stood.

"I warned him the camping trip was a horrible idea. He said it was illogical. Illogical my ass…" Shikaku muttered out the last part to himself. "How much longer until you are no longer able to stay in that other form?"

"… Tonight could possibly be the last time I ever become All Might…"

"…Whatever you do, Yagi… don't blame yourself whatever happens tonight. We will bring back my son alive and well. Keep that in mind, don't let it cloud your mind."

"Heh, here I thought you hated me…"

"You made me miss several of my son's milestones… which he still hasn't forgiven me fully."

"… I spoke too soon?"

"Yes."

-.-

One.

Two.

Three.

Boom.

To be continued…

R/R.


	18. Chapter 18

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

_Shikaku held on to the small hands of his son, as he helped his walk around the office. He is helping his young son to learn to walk and it appeared the only way he could get Shikamaru to be interested in doing so, is by using his quirk. The older Nara used his quirk of Shadow Manipulation and made the shadows come to life and it was clear the little fawn is more interested in that than his own father._

_Several more steps later, Shikaku slowly began to let go and allowed Shikamaru to walk on his own. Shikaku felt great pride and joy fill within his chest as he watches his son walking around the office with the occasional help of his quirk. Taking in a deep breath, he began to wonder how many of these moments he would come to witness. He had used up his personal days, vacation days and even sick days to spend as much time he could in the first year in his son's life._

_Deep down, Shikaku wishes for time to stop so that he could have more time to spend with his son…_

-.-

"To be truthful… I understand the downsides of superhuman society. I do." Shikamaru shrugged as the villains told him of their views of the world around them. He looked over at the television screen to see how a reporter is questioning Aizawa about how he's a horrible teacher and how little faith everyone has in U.A. That and how the young Nara has the skills to become a villain, and some other shit that clearly is not him, a bunch of troublesome crap. "Kami knows how many times people tried to beat me up when they assumed I was quirkless…"

"How did your parents treat you till then?"

This question came from Dabi, this had Shikamaru raise an eyebrow at his direction. From what the Nara had gathered from his own intel, and sneaking around his father's office for several years… the guy has severe daddy issues. "One way or another, they planned for me to take over the family's ranch and help at my dad's hero agency. Me having a quirk is just a plus…"

"Why be a hero?" Tomura felt he made a bad choice in choosing Nara to possibly join the League of Villains. The brat isn't doing what he expected he should be doing. Nara should be joining the League, conforming to their ideals and not making himself question everything he ever knew. "Why? You're father never paid any sort of attention towards you growing up! Time, time after again, the _hero_ is hardly a _father_! We did our research, we know how that man never once bothered with you!"

"So?"

"_So?!_"

"And?"

"You should b-"

Knock-

Knock-

"Delivery from Suna's Ice Shop!"

Without any sort of hesitation, Shikamaru dropped to the ground. Not even a second later, the door was broken down and a massive gust went through the bar causing chaos everywhere. The downside to this, he fully knows who's wind quirk belongs to. Looking up, standing by the now destroyed entrance of the bar along with several other heroes.

Suna's Wind Wielder: The Wind Mistress.

"What a drag…"

-.-

"Sand Coffin."

"Human Juggernaut!"

"Petal Dance!"

Endeavor had severely questioned the three brats that were put in his care during this mission. The thought of them only being here for the fact they have deep connections to three of Pro-Heroes in this plan, but seeing them in action changed his mind… just a bit.

They still need_ a lot _of work in their techniq-

"Sand…Burial."

A loud screech filled the air and the sound of a dying animal filled the air afterward. Endeavor turned around to see one of the Nemu on the ground with the bottom of itself is completely gone. He saw sand quickly encased the monster and this time the creature didn't even let out a single noise as it disappeared from existence. The only thing that was left behind is the massive amount of blood and nothing else. That's… that's brutal even for himself.

"Move!"

Sand quickly enveloped Endeavor and the last thing he saw was the Akimichi as the massive human-sized ball and began to beat down another Nemu in great precision. Once he was out of the way, the sand dispersed and he turned around to see the kid who _saved _him.

"Pay attention to your job."

-.-

Nothing ever goes to plan. Ever.

Shikaku spat out blood, mentally cursing out as he realized his left foot is broken and there was a constant ringing in his ear. He had to put it for the Jeanist, the man did what he could to get everyone out of the blast but that it left the younger man to take the majority of the blast. Gritting his teeth as he attempted to stand back up but let out a cry of pain as realization began to set in just how injured he actually is. He cursed himself for being weak, for not being able to put in a room for this form of miscalculation and how there was no way to go up against an enemy that clearly has one-upped them all by several steps.

"Ino…? Cho…?" Shikaku attempted to call out before he spat out more blood. He stopped calling out to his team when he started to feel faint as a heavy presence fell over everyone. Before he even knows it, the Nara slump forward as darkness fell over him.

-.-

Shikamaru grumbled to himself as he was once again surrounded by the League of Villains. He was no longer at the bar but now he was at a destroyed warehouse and there's a creep that is giving off very bad energy. He looked around the area, not even bothering on not being discrete about it. So many fallen Pro-Heroes and he felt his heart stop when he saw their familiar figures, the three of them are down and he doesn't even know if they are alive or not. "No… no… no…"

He saw how his father attempted to call out to someone before Shikaku slumped forward and what caused Shikamaru blood to go cold is the blood that escaped his father's mouth. Just several feet away is Inoichi hanging over a metal beam and showing no signs of life and Choza is partially buried for under rubble. It reminded him so much of that night that is filled with nightmares of his past. Before he could fully take in what was happening around him once more, All Might appeared.

Yep… This is just a nightmare on top of a nightmare, on top of yet another nightmare.

-.-

Izuku, Katsuki, Tenya, Momo, Shoto, Fumikage, and Eijiro watched on as All Might attempted to save Shikamaru but that was near impossible as All for One stood in his way and along with the Vanguard squad who were not knocked out due to an earlier attack. Their earlier thoughts of the Pro-Heroes being able to take care of this mission, but it was clear they did not have a handle on anything. Which meant… they needed to act.

"Ino and the others are dealing with the Nemu's that are running rampage around the city and they won't make it in time." Eijiro cursed under his breath in the massive turn of events. He watched on as Shikamaru started to fight against the villains to the best of his abilities. It was clear that they wanted to take the teen in alive but were not afraid of leaving him permanent with scars. "We have to get him out of there for All Might to fight. All Might won't be able to fight with him there."

"We know, but what could we do?"

"We have to do something!"

"But what?"

"Midoriya, you trained with Nara-san, you know his quirk better than the rest of us." Shoto stated this caused everyone to look at him.

"Only training in tactics, we never trained using our quirks." Izuku confessed, he was trying to come up with a plan to get Shikamaru out of there. He flinched when he saw how Shikamaru took a cheap shot and went down temporarily before he continued on fighting. "And we went over my Hero Anay…"

Izuku quickly pulled out his Hero Analysis for the Future, the same one that contained the information of the Nara Clan, to be more precise, their quirk. He looked over at Shikamaru and saw how he was mainly using the moonlight and the bare minimum the destroyed street lights to use his quirk. Taking a deep breath, Izuku looked back at the makeshift team they create to save their friend. "This is what we are going to do…"

-.-

Yoshino felt her close friends attempt to console her as they watched her son fight for his life on the live news. Every channel had changed to show what has been going on at Kamino Ward, going on about the destroyed buildings, how there are monsters roaming around the city, heroes trying to control the increasing chaos, All Might fighting against an ultimate enemy and… her son fighting for his life. Her husband is nowhere to be seen and the news camera is mainly keeping its sights on All Might and her son.

'Run, Shikamaru… Run.'

"The police cannot get close enough to get the injured away."

"There's not enough light for Shikamaru to fully fight against them."

"All Might cannot go up against the villain with the kid there."

Then… explosions filled the air and Yoshino watched as Shikamaru used it to his advantage, using the light to create shadows and managed to gain even ground against the villains. Pillars of ice of various sizes filled the area and she could see new unfamiliar figures popping into the scene and what happened next had her screaming at the television. Screaming as she watched as the explosions gave enough time for Shikamaru to take advantage of his stability walkers and the pillars to get away from the villains and using the shadows the explosions to get away from the villains that followed him. The newcomers helped get her son escape from the scene as the Pro-Heroes came to the scene and start taking out of the villains. Even if it appeared Shikamaru and his saviors were home free, the villains started to fling themselves towards the teens. Fortunately for the teens, unfortunately for the villains, Mt. Lady and Cho of InoShikaCho both grew to gigantic sizes to protect the teens.

Yoshino fell back on the sofa with a sigh of relief of fully knowing her son is now safe from the clutches of villainy. Now a fury filled within her and she stood up from her spot, cursing up a storm. She's going to get her son back home and give him a piece of her mind for making her worry! Along with Shikaku! She told that man it was a massive mistake for having the kids go to U.A.!

-.-

Shikaku let out a loud sneeze as he was being pulled away towards an ambulance. He swore his wife is going to kill him the next time he sees her… but hey, his son is now safe and he could die happily at this point. For now…

-.-

Shikamaru watched on the giant screen in the middle of a massive crowd, as All Might went up against All for One. His eyes widen as the Number One Pro-Hero appearance began to change drastically in front of everyone. How he's actually the lanky man that hung around the school with little to no explanation, but now this would explain so much yet so little. It was obvious this is All Might's last fight and he is running out of time. He spent so much energy and now All Might, Toshinori Yagi, could very well die in this fight.

But… there was something in his eyes that Shikamaru recognized, massive determination and the will to fight on. Something he had seen time after time again, even if the odds are stack against him, Shikamaru calculated All Might still has a chance of winning. Someone who has that look in their eyes always has just enough power to end a fight of this magnitude.

Shikamaru calls it the Naruto Effect…

To be continued…

R/R.


	19. Chapter 19

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

Hiding in the rafters of the hospital, Shikamaru wondering if this is how Naruto felt every time he attempted to run away from the hospital staff. The staff had intended to drug him up so that they could examine him while he was in a semi-conscious state, no thank you. He's not severely injured, scrape and bruises, nothing else. His main concern is his family, girlfriend, and friends. His friends who rescued him, quickly ran back home before they got caught up, after dropping him off at this horrid hospital.

So far, Shikamaru hasn't seen or heard of anyone he knows in this hellhole and he's becoming increasingly antsy.

"Where the hell is he? What the hell do you mean you lost him?"

"He escaped, we do not know where he ran off to."

"Don't just stand there! Search for him!"

Shikamaru looked through a vent, looking through it to see furious Temari pushing his father around in a wheelchair. The man has a cast on his left leg and is partially covered up in bandages. His father whispered something to Temari which caused the young woman to wave off the hospital staff, said staff quickly ran off before they could get yelled out evermore.

"I know you're up there, Shikamaru."

"What?" Temari looked up at the ceiling and the only thing she saw is an air vent. Her eyes widened when the air vent was kicked open and jumping out is the teen of the hour. "Shikamaru? Shikamaru! SHIKAMARU!"

"Shit…"

Shikaku couldn't help but smirk as he watches Temari throttle Shikamaru, cursing and demanding to know why he put her through in the past several hours. With a chuckle, he started to wheel away to allow the young couple sometime on their own. He could catch up with Shikamaru later, right now, he needs to search for a phone to get in contact with Yoshino and figure out where the others are located at. Before he could turn the wheelchair around, he felt arms being wrapped around him and something heavy fell onto his left shoulder. Turning his head, Shikaku could see the familiar sight of his son's face before the teen attempted to hide in the crook of his neck.

-.-

"I'm fine right now, luckily Uncle Inoichi made sure they did not pump any medications I do not need into me… Ah… forget I mentioned it… I'll tell you once we are face to face… How are the others...? Katsuki got in trouble with his folks… no?... I'll talk to him later… have you talked to, Mr. Yagi?... His room is heavily protec… Yes, I know the guy… Again, something I'll tell you once we are face to face… Tell the others I'm fine and I should be back at the apartment tomorrow night." Shikamaru whispered into his phone, keeping a close eye on the nurse that was taking his vitals. The nurse asked him a question on the list of medications they should avoid with him. He whispered out the list of medications and the nurse wrote it in his charts. With a curt nod, the nurse continued to check on the other patients in the room. Shikamaru watched as the nurse checked his father and then both of his uncles before she left the room. Luckily, the woman didn't give any of the medications.

"You still there, Izuku?... Sorry, a nurse came in… Ino and Choji are getting food… What are they saying about me?... Ah… Look, I'll deal with it once I get back in the public eye… I'll see you tomorrow… Later." Shikamaru hung up the phone with a heavy sigh, he has been making phone calls in the last two to three hours. Mainly calling his family, close friends and whoever left him a voicemail or text. Now he needed to make one last class before he could fall asleep.

Ring~

Ri-

"Shikamaru! Are you okay? No one is telling me anything!"

"Naruto…"

"They are keeping me in the village!"

"Naruto."

"Please tell me you're okay?"

Shikamaru took note at his friend's pleading tone, he let out a soft sigh before he answered. "I'm okay, I'm at the hospital."

"WHAT!"

"Just to make sure I'm okay, I'll be leaving tomorrow night with everyone else…"

"…I saw what happened on the news."

"Ah…"

"What did they want with you?"

"…They wanted me to join them."

"…"

"Naruto?"

"You said no right?"

"Idiot, of course, I said no. Being a villain is too much of a drag."

"A lot of the news channels are saying you're better suited off as a villain. It got leaked you went up against the Zombie Duo, that file is blacked out to protect everyone involved."

"I know, are the heads looking for a leak?"

"I don't know, but I think Sakura might know more than the rest of us."

"What a drag… I'm okay, I have all my limbs and I'm not drugged up."

"Good!"

"…"

"…Shikamaru?"

"Yeah, Naruto?"

"…I'm…I…I'm glad you…uh…"

"Naruto, I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon."

-.-

"Come on, Shota~ Let's get married already~" Emi taunted the man sitting across over her with a mug of hot coffee. "I promise to always make sure the coffee maker is never empty."

"As tempting as that sound… there's too much of a risk of you doing something to said coffee… is too high." Shota deadpanned, he took the hot coffee from the green-haired woman and gulped it down. He didn't care how it burned his tongue, let alone his throat. The only thing on his mind at this moment, is hiding from the outside world. Judging from the constant bombardment coming from his phone, people are assuming he'll be at his apartment and he's actually somewhere else. Somewhere where people where he'd never be… "Like this morning."

"It's decaf~" Emi stuck out her tongue out at Shota before she stood up from her spot and headed towards her kitchen. "I've been trying to get Hitoshi off of the strong stuff, but he always finds my secret stash… You wouldn't be the one that told him where I keep them, would you?"

Shota didn't bother to hide his grin but he hid it behind his mug of coffee. He stood up from his spot, he walked around the modest apartment. Even if he had been here several times, there was always something new. Newest change, Emi had created a massive collage of her family, friends and close co-workers. "Where's Hitoshi?"

"He's with friends today." Emi called out from the kitchen. "Why? Worried for your future son?"

"He's part of the package if I going to marry you one day."

"Then let's get married already! Stop dragging your feet!"

Shota only rolled his eyes before he put his attention back on the collage. It started off with Emi back before and during her time in Ketsubutsu Academy, surrounded by a group of friends. More photos, followed by the same group of friends but in each photo, the group dwindles down leaving only Emi and one or two familiar individuals. The final picture in that timeline was a very young Emi standing alone with an infant in her arms. The following pictures show Emi raising a young Hitoshi Shinso. Then, himself started to show up in the collage. How the Smile Hero managed to get pictures of him is unknown. The latest photo is one of is Emi and himself, standing extremely close one another far too close just for simple acquaintances let alone just friends. Hitoshi is most likely was the one that took the picture by the looks of it.

"…Let's get married then."

-.-

Hitoshi awkwardly stood in the middle of Izuku's kitchen, wonder what he got himself into. The green-haired teen had sent out a group text compromised of Class 1-A plus Gaara, asking everyone to meet at his apartment. Stating that he is planning a party or simply get together once Shikamaru returns from the hospital. He was backed up by Ino and Choji, stating that Ms. Midoriya was been put in charge of taking care of the apartment in the absence of the teens. This brought up a lot of questions but no one seemed to pay any mind to it.

This had the teen buying two bags full of junk food, knowing that the Nara prefer to share his food and junk food is perfect for that. That, and making sure there is more than enough for a certain someone and everyone else.

"If your fucking doing anything, get the fuck out of the kitchen, you damn extra!" Katsuki yelled from his spot from the kitchen, he was put in charge of making some random dish Inko Midoriya had told him to do. He was promptly scolded by said woman for using such foul language, which caused the teen to turn red and grumble out an apology.

"The rest of us are next door, they're decorating the apartment. Oh, if you hear screaming, ignore it."

Hitoshi only blinked momentarily before turned around and headed out of the apartment and towards the apartment next door. He didn't have to knock as he saw an unfamiliar blonde staring at the door with the utmost scrutiny. She pulled out her phone and appeared to be texting someone, not even a second later the door opened and a familiar face appeared. It was Gaara, he was dressed in a black shirt with an unfamiliar band logo on it, wearing a long-sleeved fishnet shirt underneath that, a pair of faded out jeans and a pair of sandals.

"You got here…" Gaara stated when he saw his sister on the other side of the door. Temari looked uncomfortable, her entire body language screamed it. Would be due to her choice of clothing? A simple short-sleeved purple dress, with a red belt just below her bust, fishnet tights, a pair of low black heels and a leather deep purple jacket. No, this was something she would wear whenever she goes up with the Nara. Did she get a call back home? No… no one had called him. Did Kankuro do something stupid… again? Most likely, but unlikely. Baki would have taken care of it. "What's wrong?"

"… I won't know anyone here, and Ino along with the others won't be here until tonight."

"Did that ever stop you before?"

"…Move." Temari pushed her younger brother away from her and walked straight into the apartment.

Gaara let out a small smirk, it's so easy to get his sister riled up. Before he walked back into the apartment, he turned to see Hitoshi standing there, awkwardly. "Midoriya sent you here?"

"…yes?"

"Come in th-"

"Why the hell did you guys invite a pervert? Could you get rid of him Gaara?" Temari called out from inside the apartment. It was quickly followed by a scream of pain. "Nevermind, I dealt with it myself."

"They invited Mineta?" Hitoshi deadpanned as he walked into the apartment as Gaara made room for him to walk past him. "Ino banned him from even taking a single step in here."

"He wasn't invited, but still managed to catch wind of it… I thought I threw him out of the window…"

To be continued…

R/R.


	20. Chapter 20

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own Nothing.

-.-

Temari sat in a semi-quiet corner of the small apartment, ignoring the onslaught of questions that were thrown her way. All of them are about her relationship with the lazy Nara, she blames her brother for all of this. The smug bastard is talking to Todoroki, how the two manage to still hear each other over the loud chatter is beyond her.

"Kero, would you like some tea, Sabaku-san?"

Temari looked up to see one of the girls with her arm extended out with a steaming hot cup of tea. She recognized her as Tsuyu Asui, the Rainy Season Hero: Froppy. With a grateful nod, Temari took the cup of tea and took a long whiff. The aroma reminded her of the teas Yoshino always has readily available in her home and how the smell filled the entire home. Shikamaru had told her how the woman had sent him packages of tea here and it greatly showed. "Thank you."

"Kero." Tsuyu smiled before she sat next to her, she had her own cup of tea and took tentative sips from it.

Quiet and not filled with constant questions. Temari likes Asui compared to many of her classmates. Some of the other girls kept asking, _demanding_, to know how exactly she knew Shikamaru. Considering the fact, she's marrying him. That wasn't any of their business far as she knew, it was a private matter. Even if her brother blabbed…

"Kero, Nara-san?"

"Yes?"

"If you don't mind me asking…"

"Continue…"

"I wanted to know if it's true you torn all of your tendons in your fingers? I've heard you've torn them due to the use of your fifty-pound fan?"

Temari raised her right hand up towards Asui's face, to show that her entire hand is covered in scars. "A friend of Shikamaru's made a pair of gloves to prevent me from furthering injuring myself."

"Kero is that so…"

-.-

Shikamaru watched as Recovery Girl heal his father and uncles. He had to give it to the woman, she has one hell of a quirk. At least now, they just have to wait for his father to wake up from his nap before they could all leave the place. Hopefully, it would be soon, he's already losing his mind and the last thing he needed is for his sanity to leave him. "Where's Temari?"

"She's at the apartment, apparently Class 1-A is going to throw you a party." Ino replied from her spot in the room. She was sitting next to her father, both of them going through large piles of paperwork and… law books? "Once Uncle Shikaku wakes up, we'll be heading there."

"Who's idea of the party?" Shikamaru deadpanned, not looking forward to being surrounded by so many people. He paused, going over what Ino just said. "What about M-"

"Gaara called, he came uninvited and he promptly threw him out the window… three times. We had to call management to get him banned from the building." Ino snorted, her brows furrowed as she reread a law that made no sense. She'll have to do some digging to figure out the reason the law was enacted in the first place. That will be for another day. "We made it clear to him we do not want him there, but he kept insisting."

"What happened, Princess?" Inoichi asked.

"One of our classmates is a massive pervert and has been trying to look up her skirt or cup a feel on her."

"Is this the one with the grape looking hair?"

"Yes. Him."

"…Hm, I'm going to have a long talk with the principal." Inoichi ripped up a piece of paper and wrote himself a memo for later. "Anyone or anything else I should know about?"

"We'll keep you updated."

Shikamaru truly hoped something could be done, but for now, his main goal right now is to see how many coins he could pile upon his father's face before he wakes up. Or they would tumble down. Either way, it's something to do for now.

-.-

Shikamaru let out a tiresome sigh as he and the others piled up in a van to head back to the apartment. Choji's aunt, Choza's sister, had come by to pick them up to drop them off at the apartment. She had brought some food for them to munch on for now as they were heading to a party that should have more than enough food waiting for them. It wasn't something he was looking forward to.

The young Nara just wanted to plop himself on his bed and sleep for the remainder of the break. He needed to do a complete reset of his mind and then recharge, just to get over what happened to him in the last week alone. Or maybe in the last couple of years if things keep going on as it is.

"Are you looking forward to the party?" Ino asked Shikamaru, nudging him with her elbow.

"No."

"Aww, don't be a party pooper." Choji pointed, he nudged Shikamaru with a massive carton of fried chicken.

"I just want to take a nap."

"You're starting to sound like Aizawa-sensei." Ino chided him.

"If I did, then I'd need a loudmouth blonde best friend, and Naruto isn't here to fill the bill." Shikamaru deadpanned with an eye-roll.

"I'm going to ignore that statement." Ino glared but did not say anything else. She pulled out her cellphone and started texting someone. "I'm about to text Izuku we just left the hospital."

"Don't send it to him, send it to Shoto."

"…Why?"

"Sending it to Izuku will end up in complete hysterias. Shoto, if we are lucky, would either ignore the message or not mention it until the last minute."

"Evil. I like it."

-.-

Izuku was in complete panic mode. He just got a text from Ino stating that she along with the others just left the hospital and are heading back as they speak. Even if the majority of the preparations are done, there are still some things that still need to be done… which is the reason for his current behavior.

He kept yelling, crying in the corner or a combination of both, about how the party is a complete disaster. The more Izuku kept on in this behavior, it caused him to ignore Shoto who followed him all throughout the apartment.

"THIRTY MIN-"

"Less than that." Shoto interrupted Izuku mid-shout.

"…What?" Izuku squeaked out, Shoto showed him his phone to the green-haired teen which showed a text and the time it was sent. "Why didn't you tell me before!"

"I just saw the text."

"THEY'RE HERE!" Mina yelled all throughout the apartment, causing everyone to go into a frenzy to get into place.

-.-

Shikamaru sweatdropped at hearing screams and crying from the other side of the door had him wondering what is happening on the other side of the door. Taking in a deep breath, unlocked the door and it caused everything to go quiet on the other side. Pushing the door open, Shikamaru blinked slowly as shouting resumed, but this time it was people shouting for his return.

It was overwhelming.

Suddenly, Shikamaru was being pulled around the apartment at random directions. Many are welcoming him back, asking him what the League wanted with him, or just… it was getting out of hand.

"There you are, Cry Baby." Temari pulled Shikamaru out of the crowd, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

Shikamaru groaned at the nickname, but he moved along with Temari to sit at the table that is filled with piles and piles of food. He didn't even notice when his father sat next to him until Shikaku handed him a plate filled with warm food. It was until that moment, Shikamaru realized just how hungry he really was.

-.-

Inko stood in front of her son friend's apartment, carrying a bowl of seaweed salad for the party. She was just informed the Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, along with their respective father's had finally arrived. Even at the news, she still didn't make an appearance. All throughout the day, she didn't know what to say or do once she came face to face to Shikamaru and his father.

Would the man pull his son out of hero course? She had seen the man reaction towards Class 1-A's teacher, and it made her mind up. Depending on what happens tonight, it would decide the fate of Izuku's dream of becoming a hero. Taking in a deep breath, Ino opened the door and the full impact of the party. Walking through the apartment, she made a beeline to the kitchen but stopped when she saw Shikamaru and his father sitting at the table, it appeared the older male is telling everyone a story. Everyone around in a hearing distance scooted closer to hear the story.

Inko couldn't help herself but get closer and hear this story.

"-the age of twelve, Shikamaru received his Provisional Hero License. The only one in his class to receive it that year, quite an accomplishment for someone his age at that time." Shikaku grinned at the memory. "By the final part of the exam, it was a one on one tournament. Shikamaru first and only fight, was up against the Wind Mistress."

Everyone looked over at Temari, who only rolled her eyes.

"He lost?" Katsuki deadpanned, from all the hype and everything he had seen or heard on the Nara… He expected more.

"I only won because he forfeited." Temari growled, shooting Shikamaru a glare. She pushed him away from herself and crossed her arms. "Prior to our fight, I only saw him fight once. In that fight, he only required a wall and a small part of his quirk to finish off his opponent."

"It was a literal, if you blink, you'll miss it type of fight." Ino added in, waving around her chopsticks to add emphasize. "He makes his opponent fall into a false sense of security before he defeats them. Like what he did in your fight against him, Temari."

"Tell us again how she won then?"

"I _could _have defeated her, but I was out of energy and there was no way for me to be able to continue on with the tournament." Shikamaru shrugged, he served himself more food and began to gobble it down.

"The goal wasn't to win, it was to showcase your skills?" Izuku questioned, he had pulled out his notebook and had a pencil out ready.

"Right. There were many times at these exams, you could win literally win it but not even get the promotion." Shikaku added in, he looked around the room to see that everyone had now decided to crowd around them to listening in. He let out a sigh, wondering what his son has and has not said to them. "I've been judging them for some time now, it isn't so much on what you could do with your abilities, it's how you implement them. Even if you have all the power in the world, you could easily be taken down by your own ignorance. Which reminds me…"

Shikaku turned to his son. "You are returning back to the village and continue your training there until the start of the new school year. We are going to fine-tune your quirk… and have you train under Guy and Lee too."

A mass of great confusion fell over the majority of the occupants in the room. The only ones that seemed terrified at the news are Izuku and Shikamaru for their own personal reasons. Izuku, for the fact he had trained under Lee for less than a week and he could barely make it out of that with anything less than a broken bone. To train for a month… and with the man that taught Lee, everything he knows is twice as terrifying. For Shikamaru… he does not want to deal with… Youth.

Without much else to say, Shikamaru groaned and fell back with a loud grunt. Luckily, they were sitting around the low table and the fall didn't hurt. He continued on complaining how much of a drag it would be to train with Lee and Guy. Lee was one thing, but to have the Original is a whole other factor he does not want to deal with.

"If you do well in your training… I'll let take _one _scroll from the vault."

Pause. Shikamaru slowly sat up and gave his father a critical look before he fully agreed to the deal. "No scroll, only if I could take my friends to the village with us to train. Especially him, he's going to need all the training he could get at this point."

Shikamaru pointed at Izuku, who's jaw dropped at in shock and he started to cry excessively. "His body is at the brink of utter destruction and needs to learn to hold back. Who else to teach him than The Green Beast himself?"

"…" Izuku started to cry harder, he didn't know if Shikamaru's words were inspiring or insulting. At this point, there was a massive truth in his friend's words. His body is straining with the constant use of using One for All, even with short training he had with Lee, he learned so much in such a short time. Now to be able to train for a longer time, the possibilities are endless. He was so lost in his thoughts, that he didn't see his mother motioning for Shikaku to follow her out of the apartment to talk. It was only when his friends started to ask if they could all go to Konoha for some training, or at least get their minds off what has happened to them in the last week or so. That, and to figure out who this Green Beast is.

-.-

"_You need to talk to your son's mentor. You cannot simply pull your son out of U.A. for his supposed safety. Your son is part of something that is bigger than himself."_

"_What about your son? Are you not worried about his own safety?"_

"_Of course, that's why I plan on training him relentlessly for the next couple of weeks. I know personally the risks when it comes to being a hero in today's world, especially now with All Might no more and with the ideology of Stain, villains will come out of the woodwork and go after those that go up against said ideologies."_

-.-

Inko took in a deep breath, sitting across of her and Izuku is, All Might but now going by his civilian name Toshinori Yagi, in the dining room table. She had suspected this would have happened sooner or later, someone from the school coming by to check in on her son. Mainly to ensure Izuku will continue on at U.A. or something else for whatever reason. She already made up what she was going to say to them. That she had grown tired of U.A. inability to protect her son. Along with the fact, her son is told repeatedly that after each battle he faces, there was little to no possibility of a full recovery due to his ever-growing injuries. Saying to this… former hero, Yoshinori Yagi or All Might as everyone once knew him as, that she has no confidence in U.A….

When Inko said as such, she reached over and yanked Izuku down for him to sit back down. She could feel how her son is shaking and from the corner of her eyes to see him crying. This was something she needed to say and do for her son's future. Before she could say anything, Toshinori transformed into All Might and bowed in front of them. He went on to say how much he apologies for being negligent as Izuku's teacher and completely understands Inko's worries. Going on to ask her to allow him to walk along that bloody path of being a hero with Izuku so that it won't be bloody. Then promising he will nurture and protect Izuku even at the cost of his own life.

Inko had slid down her knees, breathing deeply at All Might's words. "I talked to Shikaku Nara yesterday… I asked him if he ever considered stopping his son from becoming a hero. He responded with how he plans on toughing Shikamaru's training to ensure he will never be put in that same position as he was the other day… All Might do not trade away your life for someone else's sake. Continue living. My son is going to need someone to nurture him, protect him… I confess I had planned on pulling him out of U.A. but I had made up my mind this morning I am not going to do so. Izuku… go pack your things for your trip to Konoha… I need to iron out some things with your mentor."

-.-

Shikamaru couldn't help but smirk as his shadows started to recede back to its original shape. It appeared Izuku is going to Konoha with the rest of them. This means he's not going to suffer alone for the reaming of the summer.

"SHIKAMARU! PACK YOUR STUFF UP, WE'RE LEAVING IN THREE DAYS!"

"What a drag…"

To be continued…

R/R.


	21. Chapter 21

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

Izuku was beside himself… despite what had occurred to Class 1-A and 1-B… Several of the students of both classes were invited to go to Konoha for the remainder of the break. He was one of the few that decided to go. Well, it was more like, there were several students that did not have the choice of whether they were going.

One of those students is Kacchan, he's going for his own safety. It was heavily noted by the League of Villains, that he was one of the primary targets. The school, police force dealing with said League and his parents want him out of the area up until the start of the new semester when everyone moves into the dorms. From what he heard, he didn't put up much of a fight, if anything, he was looking forward to the challenge.

Even so, Izuku is looking forward to going to Konoha. He could use this time training with Lee, who he kept in contact since that half a week of training. Taking in a deep breath, the green-haired teen couldn't wait for it. Especially… especially after hearing how they do not judge someone on whether they have a quirk or. Not allowing a quirk to define oneself…

'I can do this.'

Ding.

Izuku pulled out his phone when he got a notification, he just received a new text. His eyes widen at the two words on the text.

**Pack light.**

-.-

"Tenya is going to spend the remainder of the break with his brother, helping his recover." Ochaco informed Izuku and Shoto as they dragged around their luggage to their destination. The destination is the train station where everyone that is planning on going to Konoha to meet at. The three friends had agreed to first meet before meeting with the others. "I can't wait for this trip! Ino said that we'd be staying either at the Yamanaka or Nara compound."

"Compound?" Shoto asked, his face scrunched up in thought.

"Konoha has deep traditional roots, they have several clans in the village. The Akimichi, Nara, and Yamanaka are just three of said clans that reside in Konoha." Izuku explained, pulling out one of his notebooks from his person. He flipped through it and landed on the page where he wrote about the Nara Clan. As he spoke, his voice began to trail off uneasily. "Shikamaru told me his clan lives on the edge of the village… surrounded by a massive forest…"

An uneasy silence fell over this as this went through their minds.

-.-

Shikamaru repeatedly bounces his leg in place, writing a report to give to Lady Tsunade once he arrives back to the village. He needed to write to her what had happened in his time back when he was kidnapped and informing her of his decision of bringing foreigners to the village. Luckily for him, she likes and trusts him enough to allow such a thing to happen.

Plus… from what he was told, Izuku and Katsuki needed to get away from the area until the start of the next semester. There is still a fear the League of Villains will attempt to go after them and it is best to go somewhere where they cannot get to them.

'How the guy managed to get close to Izuku and not get caught is beyond me…' Shikamaru thought, frowning at the memory. He wasn't even there when that had occurred, he, Ino, and Choji were out looking for a decent teashop. Either way, he's going to make it his personal mission getting his friends to the village without incident.

"Oi, Nara."

Shikamaru looked up to see Eijiro and Katsuki had finally arrived, both carrying their respective luggage. Well, it was more like they had managed to fill backpacks to the near brim with what they were going to use for the remainder of the break. "What?"

"When do we fucking leave?" Katsuki demanded, letting out a snarl. He didn't bother to ask if he could sit next to Shikamaru.

"I texted everyone, they should be here within the next half hour. Next half hour after that, we start heading towards the station."

"Why didn't we all just meet at the train station?" Eijiro asked he motioned if he could sit next to Shikamaru and only sat down once permission was granted.

"We're not going by train." Shikamaru answered he started to put away his report back into his backpack. "Considering what happened to me… us… it is better to stay out of sight. Being in a train is not being out of sight. Ino and Choji already left three days ago via train and they got bombarded. Not risking it."

"That would explain why they are not here…" Eijiro thought aloud. "What about your girlfriend and Gaara?"

"Getting our ride." Shikamaru answered he waved his hand to get the attention of their friends who just arrived.

-.-

"A blimp?" Fumikage deadpanned, staring at the massive blimp that was in front of him and the others that decided to come along for the trip. The blimp had the symbol of Suna on the side of it, reminding everyone just how connected Shikamaru is.

"No wonder their names sounded familiar… YOU'RE ENGAGED TO THE SUNA AIRLINE HEIRESS!"

"What a drag…" Shikamaru rolled his eyes before he signaled for everyone to follow him towards the waiting ride.

To be continued…


	22. Chapter 22

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

Shikamaru sat in one of the main benches in the occupant area of the blimp. Sitting next to him is Temari, who is writing away in a well cared for leather-bound notebook he had given to her for their first anniversary. What she writes in there… has her bonding with Izuku over.

"I've been writing down every quirk I've ever seen." Temari said with a smirk as she patted her notebook to emphasize her point. "I have all of my notebooks categorized by Quirk types…"

Shikamaru tuned out Temari and Izuku's discussion, he looked around the area to see the other occupants in the airship. He watched as Katsuki and Neito argue against each other, with Itsuka and Eijiro trying, emphasize of trying, to get them to stop. Luckily Katsuki isn't going to use his quirk anytime soon, otherwise, that spells death for everyone on board along with himself. Watching the scrabble is Tetsutetsu, Ibara, Shoto, and Momo whom all are mentioning how there shouldn't be any fighting or in Tetsutetsu's case, yelling for Itsuka to knock them out with her quirk.

If only…

Tsuyu and Ochaco were not that far from them, they kept looking over at Izuku and over at Katsuki. They were talking in low whispers, just low enough Shikamaru couldn't hear what they were saying. Good for them, otherwise he'd had to report back to Ino about the daily gossip. Sitting next to himself are Fumikage and Mezo, who would occasionally ask the Nara a question here and there, but mainly kept to themselves. Then there was Hitoshi, the lazy bastard is snoozing away while ignoring everything around him…

Maybe he'll also take a nap before arriving at Konoha…

Hopefully.

-.-

Toshinori Yagi nervously pulled at the hem of the hospital gown he was wearing. He couldn't fully look at his doctor's expression, as they told him everything single thing that was wrong with him. No hesitation, no holding back, they were blunt and not sugar coating any of it.

"However… There is a possibility we could help you."

Toshinori's head snapped up, his eyes widen, and his jaw dropped, staring up at Tsunade Senju, The Medic Hero: Slug Princess and one of the three Legendary Sannin of Konoha. "H-how?"

"With our quirks." Tsunade signaled at herself, Shizune Kato and Sakura Haruno. Toshinori looked at the pinked hair teen, who is looking through his charts. "With our combined medical knowledge, expertise, and with the help our quirks, we could help you. However…"

"There's a massive possibility you could die on the operating table." Shizune added in. "There is a 50/50 chance you will either come out of that room healed or dead."

"I like those chances."

-.-

"Welcome… to Konoha…"

Everyone in the airship, except for Shikamaru and Temari, looked out in awe as the view of Konoha came into view. The village was surrounded by a forest and resting at the base of the forest. Many of the buildings looked newly built and they all had a common traditional theme to it all. Some of the occupants shifted uncomfortably at the sight of the forest as the memories of what had happened to them previously still fresh in their minds.

After seating themselves after it was announced they needed to do so and waited as the blimp to make it's landing. They remained seated and from their spots, they could see employees of the airfield secure the blimp to the ground. After some time, everyone was allowed to get off the blimp.

Shikamaru walked ahead of everyone with Temari walking alongside of him. They didn't bother to mention how Katsuki still wanted to fight Neito and now Izuku, all the while Itsuka carrying him with the use of her quirk. The Nara groaned as the sun hit his face as he got off the blimp, he raised his hand to block off the sun rays. "Troubleso-argh!"

"SHIKAMARU! YOU'RE BACK!"

Class 1-A and 2-A watched as a hyperactive blonde with kitsune like features, grab hold of Shikamaru in a hug and started to swing him around. The blonde has reddish-orange fox ears replacing where it is typical to have human ears and swishing behind him are nine fox tails with a similar color scheme. On each cheek are three distinctive whisker marks only seemed to be a cherry on top for his entire appearance.

"I'm so glad you're back!"

"Naruto…"

"And in one piece!"

"Naruto."

"We should go out for ramen!"

"Ugh… what a drag…" Shikamaru sighed aloud, he allowed himself to be swung around by his friend. From what he could see, the rest of their friends are, laughing at the scene before them. "Please put me down…"

"Huh? Why didn't you say anything before?" Naruto stopped spinning Shikamaru around before he placed him back down. He slapped his hands on top of the Nara's shoulders, smiling brightly at him. "You're back!"

Shikamaru revisited the urge to roll his eyes, looked around Naruto and saw that Sakura was not there to reign in Naruto. By now, Naruto took his arms off him and took a step back when he realized the newcomers. Naruto stared at the U.A. students, he then tilted his head to the side as something crossed his mind. "Which is the one that is going to be training with Bushy-Brows and myself?"

"Izuku Midoriya, the one who is currently crying us a river while Lee is pulling him who knows where." Shikamaru pointed at Izuku, who is being pulled away by Lee by the scruff of his shirt. How the U.A. students did not even take notice of this before until it was mentioned, was beyond themselves. Lee had stopped dragging Izuku to turn around to give the newcomers his signature good guy pose. Luckily, he did not use that forbidden technique…

"What the fuck is wrong with his face?" Katsuki barked out a laugh, staring at Lee. The outfit did not do anything for the guy, at all. On top of the bowl haircut and massive eyebrows just made the guy look like a freak to him, along with some of the others.

"What's wrong with you, Spark Sparky Boom Pants?" Ino called out, she moved away from her friends to march up to Katsuki. "I bet Lee could take you down less than five minutes!"

"I give it a minute." Tenten called out.

"What a drag…" Shikamaru slapped his forehead, he wanted to go find a place to stare up at the clouds without a care in the world. He turned to Ino and Katsuki's screaming match, turned his attention to Temari who is grinning at him. "You're enjoying this… aren't you?"

"Hah, it never gets boring here." Temari continued to grin, she reached over and patted his shoulder before she went back to the blimp. "I'm heading back home now, I have to make sure Kankuro didn't do anything stupid in my absence."

Shikamaru pouted but did not say anything else, he was going to turn around to face his friends once more when he felt something soft against his cheek. He blushed at the contact, he turned around just in time to see Temari walking back into the blimp without another word. "Troublesome woman…"

-.-

"You live here?!"

Shikamaru cringed at the yelling and the constant questioning. They were all standing in front of the front gates that lead into the Nara Compound. From where they were at, they all could see are a couple of building and they were mainly storefront. Many of them sell supplies that the clan makes and sells to anyone that is interested. Mainly deerskin, deer meat, medicine, and other items the Nara's are known to make.

"Generally…? Yes. My home is deeper into the compound." Shikamaru made his way through the gate and made course to his home. His home resided at the center of the area where everyone resided, which was not even at the center of the compound, but it was a long trek before they even got there. The longer the walk, the sight of homes or any sort of buildings were becoming sparse and the forest only seemed to thicken around them. The talking, whispering, and bickering came to an eerily stop, even so, Shikamaru preferred this as it becomes troublesome to get everyone to be quiet all at once.

Perhaps the fact they became silent as they were now walking a path that was surrounded by massive trees which were growing in size the further, they walked. It had gotten to the point where they could only see specks of the sky.

"How much fucking longer, Lazy Ass!"

There goes the silence… "It's not long now."

True to his word, not even five minutes later and now everyone stood in front of a traditional Japanese style home. There was a sense of serenity that filled the air as everyone took in on what they were seeing.

"SHIKAKU! WHAT DID I TOLD YOU ABOUT CLEANING UP THE YARD!"

Loud crashes and curses filled the air before silence ruled over once more.

'Dad's home…'

-.-

Toshinori paced himself as he walked along the side of Inoichi and Choza. They had just left the hospital and heading towards the Yamanaka Compound. Choza only spoke between the three of them, pointing out the random shops or restaurants as they passed by them towards their destination. The now-former hero had to hand it to the Konoha, despite how modernized the village is, it still retained that sense of serenity and nothing like back home. Also, it also helped when he breathed, he was no longer breathing in the toxic fumes that normally followed living in a crowded city.

"We forgot to mention, your student is here in the village." Inoichi said, looking up at the older blonde. For Toshinori's part, he coughed up blood at the news. He had heard Izuku decided to go on a trip, he just… did not know where.

"What?"

"Yeah, Shikamaru brought along several of his friends here with the intention of making it a training trip." Inoichi laughed at the thought, he would have never thought to hear the day of his godson spending an entire summer to training instead of cloud watching. "We originally planned for them to stay at my compound, but we believe it is best we ensure you do not cross paths with them while you are here…"

All sign of laughter left Inoichi's expression. Unbeknownst to Toshinori, they had stopped in front of a flower shop. Toshinori knew the reason and believe it is for the best, hopefully, everything will end up ap in his favor in the end. "Where are they right now?"

"Nara Compound, it's at the edge of the village. Their lands are surrounded by the Nara forest which is heavily guarded by the clan." Choza explained. "Only those of the clan or with permission, are allowed to even step foot in there. All of them are going to be safe from outside threats… it what's on the inside that should have you worry about."

To be continued…

R/R.


	23. Chapter 23

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

**A/N: For the purpose of this chapter only, I will be referring to everyone by their first name. Even if they are in their hero costume. **

**PS.: If anyone has any ideas for Tenten and Neji's hero costumes and hero names? Please? I'll change this chapter once I have something for them.**

Just to make some things clear, this is the list of who went to Konoha for some training and being split into groups.

· **Ochaco Uraraka **

· **Tsuyu Asui **

· **Momo Yaoyorozu**

· **Itsuka Kendo **

· **Ibara Shiozaki**

· Eijiro Kirishima 

· Katsuki Bakugo

· Mezo Shoji 

· Fumikage Tokoyami 

· Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

· _Shoto Todoroki_

· _Izuku Midoriya_

· _Hitoshi Shinso_

· _Neito Monoma_

-.-

"No one is to step foot into the forest without Shikamaru or myself present, is that understood?" Shikaku stood in front of his son's friends/classmates that stood in front of his home. This either the first or second time they have seen the man that stood in front of them. Some were intimidated, excited, or just wondering why they shouldn't step foot into the forest. "The last person that entered the place is buried out there somewhere, cursing my son's name."

The only people that laughed at the joke were Choji and Ino, who were in the home waiting for the others to arrive. Shikamaru only rolled his eyes at his father's words but did not say anything about it. It wasn't exactly a massive secret to the higher-ups what he did to a murderous god-obsessed villain. He'll have to figure out how to evade the questions about it later from the others on the subject.

"If you are to go anywhere into the village, at least travel in pairs and tell someone of your whereabouts. However, I advise you to not wander off there without my son or one of his friends to guide you." Shikaku continued on, he then leveled his gaze with all the teens. He made several of the teens take several gulps at his serious tone and how his eyes showed promise of future pain. "You are here as a guest to my clan, whatever you do will reflect upon us."

Everyone peeked over at Katsuki, all of them knowing that he would be the one to cause some sort of trouble for everyone involved. Katsuki, for his own part, ignored the stares. The hero has his respects and plans on doing his best to act respectfully… to a degree.

"Other than that…" Shikaku shrugged, all previous mood gone, replaced with his tired and lethargic self. "Welcome to my home, Yoshino is finishing making everyone a late lunch and would be ready within the next hour. Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino will take you all to the guest rooms. You'll be split into three groups, as there are only three guest rooms available at this moment. There will be no fighting, no killing and don't wake me up unless someone is dying, the village is under attack or something is wrong with the deer."

-.-

"This place is amazing…" Izuku said awe as Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino lead everyone to their respective rooms. Walking through the home, it was kept very traditional yet had some modern moments to it. There were maps, tapestries, or paintings hanging around the home that caught everyone's attention. More so on the maps than anything else. "How old are they?"

"Since the first creation of Konoha and when my clan first came here." Shikamaru answered, he stopped in the first room and reached over to slid open the door to reveal it had five futons. Each futon had their own respective blankets, blankets and so on. It was clear whoever set them up, took extra attention to detail. "First room, the girls are sleeping here… we were asked to ensure everyone is separated and don't sneak around, we'll know."

"How are the others going to be split up?" One of the boy's asked, wondering who is going to get stuck with Katsuki as a temporary roommate.

"We'll get there when we get there."

-.-

There was screaming, fighting and so much more as the boys found out who they were rooming with. Most of the screaming is mainly Eijiro and Tetsutetsu doing whatever they do, that is followed by Neito's trying to one-up Class. The fighting came in the form of Katsuki wanting to fight them all for them to shut up. So far, so good.

It all came to a stop when Yoshino Nara threatened them that if they didn't calm down, then no one was getting any food for the rest of the day. Silence only followed for a short while before it was agreed to head out the back porch and wind down after a long day. The yard was large enough for everyone to lay on the grass with more than enough space between them or to walk around without interacting with anyone else.

"I'm surprised you came along, Neito." Itsuka sat next to Neito who was sitting in front of a shogi table, deep in thought over the game. "And not starting anymore fights against anyone right now.

"Shikamaru invited me over a game of shogi." Neito hummed out, looking down at the board while thinking over his next move. Sitting across of him is Mezo, studying every single move the blonde is making. "I am simply baiting my time is all."

Neito and Mezo stared down at the game board, neither side wanted to admit defeat but knew full well that they were at a stalemate. Without saying a word, they started to start another game to pass by time. Another game to see who could best the other.

Without saying another word, Itsuka stood up from her spot and looked around the yard from her spot on the porch. Everyone was doing their own thing at this point, somewhere laying on the grass trying to take a nap, chatting away on seemingly random topics, and others (Tetsutetsu and Eijiro were pumping each other up at the prospect of training) were doing whatever. It felt peaceful here… despite the fact, it's surrounded by a massive forest.

"Lunch is ready!"

-.-

The next morning… early morning. Very early morning but for some, it would be late. FAR TOO LATE TO START A GLORIOUS AND YOUTHFUL DAY OF TRAINING!

Might Guy stood in front of his new students for the next couple of weeks, grinning and crying at how youthful it is that they came to him for training. Standing behind are two of his very embarrassed students, both looked to be on the verge of wanting to disappear from Guy-Sensei's antics. While they were embarrassed by the man's current actions, Rock Lee is the only one in the entire vicinity that showed just as much enthusiasm. The four of them were dressed in their hero costumes and ready for a day full of training.

Might Guy's costume look exactly like Lee's own, but the main difference is that the older male has one a cargo green vest that is seen to be a massive fashion choice by many in the village. Tenten's costume is made up of a long-sleeved, high collared fitted white blouse with maroon edges, black fingerless gloves, a pair of low heel sandals, and a pair of maroon-colored puffy styled pants with exposed parts covered in bandages. Neji's own costume is comprised of a white kimono-shirt with long, loose sleeves, matching pants, a navy-grey apron tied around his waist, and a pair of black sandals. Simple, but durable.

Without saying a word, Tenten pushed Guy out of the way to stand in front of the U.A. students. She could see many of them show recognition of her appearance…

"Aren't you from the Support Class?"

At the mention of the class, Tenten twitched visibly. Oh, how much she hated being constantly being reminded of that fact. Every time she attempted to train over at U.A. is always met with confusion or indifference as to why would someone from Support Class would even bother to train. Especially if they are just going to be held up in some lab creating costumes for heroes, far away from _danger_. "My name is Tenten, a Pro-Hero in training and I am here to make sure Guy-sensei and Lee don't take it too hard on your guys."

"What the fuck does that supposed to mean?" Katsuki asked, wondering why she needed to make sure the two walking fashion disasters don't go too hard on them.

"What she means is that…" Neji placed a hand on Tenten's shoulder and spoke in her stead. "Our mentor and friend have a very different definition when it comes to training."

"How so? If you don't mind me asking." Momo asked, hesitantly raising her hand.

-.-

"ARE THEY FUCKING CRAZY!"

"This is torture!"

"Are they even human?"

Izuku couldn't help but laugh uneasily as he and everyone else were now running laps around the village. Apparently, they have to do fifty laps as a warmup that is supposed to be followed by 100 sit-ups, 50 jumping jacks, and… well... a lot more exercises. This is even after Tenten and Neji had managed to reign in their teacher's antics. He has the utmost respect for Lee and Guy-sensei, both being born with a quirk yet having more power than many due to training and pure hard work.

"For this lap! We shall run only using our hands!"

"GUY-SENSEI!"

"WE SHALL CONTINUE RUNNING AS WE ARE RIGHT NOW!"

-.-

Toshinori paced back and forth in the hospital waiting room. Today is the day he is to have surgery to possibly have a normal life again. To no longer having to hack up blood due to the missing organs and dealing with the constant strain of it all. He knows that if things are going to continue as they are, he won't have long to live.

"Yagi, Toshinori? It's time."

"So, it seems…"

TBC.


	24. Chapter 24

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing.

-.-

10…

Toshinori held his breath as the breathing masked is placed over his mouth and nose.

9…

He looked around the room to take one final glance of all the doctors that are going to do the surgery on him.

8…

This will be the last thing he will see before the medication take place.

7…

Toshinori wishes he had said something to someone.

6…

Young Midoriya doesn't even know he's in Konoha…

5…

David and Melissa don't even know how sick he is…

4…

It was as if all past mistakes started to resurface back into the forefront of Toshinori's mind.

3…

Toshinori didn't want to die, he wants to live.

2…

Darkness is creeping in slowly and a familiar figure kept yelling at him to live for himself.

1…

Toshinori wonders if he will wake up again.

-.-.-

"HE'S WHAT!"

"I'm quirkless." Lee replied simply before turning around to side kick Izuku into a nearby tree, it was followed by sending Tetsutetsu and Eijiro into a nearby boulder and tree trunk. After making sure no one else was going to going to attack him, he stood in front of the shocked U.A. students with confusion. "I am quirkless. What you see is the result of hard work and never giving up!"

"Don't forget sheer dumb luck." Tenten muttered under her breath. Neji nodded in agreement at her words. This caused many to turn their attention towards them, wondering what and how sheer dumb luck could possibly help someone become a hero. Someone that is quirkless that is. Tenten looked over at the visitors with an eerie smile. "Rock Lee, Green Beast, trained relentlessly to the point where it was advised he stopped his dream of being a hero after a… fight gone horribly wrong.

Izuku couldn't help but flinch at Tenten's words. He knew the story to that, Lee had told him previously with his fight against Gaara. He wondered how everyone would else would react to that sto-

"It was during our licensing exams, I was set to fight against Gaara! You know him, yes?" Lee asked, not at all registering the fact as realization slowly dawned onto all the other teenagers of what had happened to him. Some actually turned green as Lee went into deep detail on the fight, while some turned white from fright or realization what Gaara and Lee are capable of doing. "THEN I was told I had a 50/50 chance of dying under the knife but I took that chance! And here I am, living my dream of becoming a Pro-Hero!"

Slowly, Denki looked over at Shikamaru with a look of complete freight. "How are you still alive?"

"In my defense, an event occurred that changed Gaara for the best… and he wants what he believes to be the best for his sister." Shikamaru sighed, he raised his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Look, he and Lee are in very good terms now along with the rest of us."

"Look, we are here to train and not gossip." Neji stated to get everyone back on track onto the reason all of them woke up at an ungodly hour. "Lee, it is now my turn to go up against them."

"Yosh!"

-.-

Fighting against Neji wasn't any easier for many. It was clear that while Lee excels on offense while Neji excels in defense with that power move of his. No one has been able to get close to him without either getting knocked out or getting paralyzed in some form. Katsuki gritted his teeth as he looked for an opening to attack Neji, but that proved to be easier said than done.

Sure, there was a pattern to Neji's attacks, but he had managed to learn to go around it. It was clear that Neji had managed to get around his weaknesses and to counteract any attack in his weak spot. Katsuki knew that if he fights Neji directly, he would get paralyzed or get knocked out. He could run that risk of allowing himself get at least get both arms paralyzed, but none of the damned extras picked to fight Neji are good enough to back him up if things go bad.

"He has a blind spot, when it paralyzed my arm I copied his quirk before he block my quirk completely." Neito said, holding onto his limp arm.

"He… what!" Katsuki yelled at Neito, this was very new information to him. This just changed the game plan.

"I talked to Shikamaru about the clans here in Konoha, he's from the Hyuga clan. They are known for their ocular sight and mix in with life-force inhibition, a deadly combination in the right hands." Neito said with a grunt, he attempted to lift his arm to no avail. "I already talked to Kendo and Shiozaki, we need a distraction."

"I'll give you a fuck-"

-.-

"A close friend of mind does the same tactic all of you attempted to do to me, all the time we spar. It gets rather old." Neji said sagely, all the while rubbing the back of his head where a massive goose egg is forming. "Kendo-san, if you had waiting just a second, you would have completely taken me out. Shiozaki-san, clever idea on trying to attack me from the ground. Bakugo-san… your diversion was on point. You did what was needed to distract your enemy, myself, to let my guard down just enough to give the others an opportunity. And… what's his name…. the blonde"

"Okay, okay, enough with the schmooze feast…" Tenten stepped forward and took hold of Neji and guided him towards a shady tree. "I have an icepack somewhere for you to use."

"I think I'm seeing double…"

Izuku couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. He had only met those two when they visited Shikamaru at the hospital. He looked over at the remaining classmates that still haven't fought yet. They were set to fight against Tenten and he wondered how would that go. He know of Lee's status of being quirkless due to him telling him about it. Shikamaru had mentioned the Hyuga clan and their famous quirk, but that's that and he just firsthand witnessed how devastating it could be. Then there is Tenten… who no one knew what her quirk was. Yes, she had transferred over to U.A. into the Support Department, but even those in there have quirks of their own from what he understood.

What could Tenten do?

-.-

"HOW MANY OF THOSE THINGS SHE HIDES IN HER PERSON!"

"I DON'T KNOW! JUST KEEP DODGING!"

For having an underrated quirk, Tenten is using it to her complete advantage. Izuku wrote away in a notebook, getting as much information he could get from Tenten's quirk and Shikamaru's explanation of it.

"The user is capable of hiding numerous weaponry item, weapon or object even weapons that have much bigger dimensions than their body…"

-.-

Naruto knew that he has a short time period in being able to talk to Shikamaru before he leaves the village. Out of everyone in their age group, he got stuck staying in the village due to… reasons. This did leave him isolated for a while, but at least his friends call him daily and would occasionally send him random items to occupy his time.

Shikamaru, Ino and Choji send him random board games, snacks and coupons at any Akimichi run restaurant.

Neji, Lee and Tenten sends him textbooks, training weights, and more coupons for Ten for Ten.

Kiba, Shino and Hinata sends him clothing mainly, jackets, coats, scarves and hats.

Sakura and Sai… they are here stuck with him. Naruto suspects that Granny made them stay to keep an eye on him. Even then, he had hardly seen all that much of them. Always busy… leaving him alone and only making an appearance when they suspect he's doing something he shouldn't or one of the others are making a phone call. Naruto hates it…

He hates being kept in the dark and his every move being watched at every waking hour. Things should have gotten better after the attack on the village with him defeating Pein, but things just got… worse. Yeah, the village now knowledges him but now he's under everyone's scrutiny for one reason or another.

"Naruto, I've been looking for you." That phrase… the same thing over and over again whenever someone is looking for him. To make sure he isn't out doing anything he should not. This time however, it's different.

Naruto looked over to see Shikamaru sluggishly walking up to him, he looked like Tenten had used him as a training dummy. "Shikamaru! Why do you look like Tenten used you to test out one of her many babies?"

"…Tenten decided to test out her newest weapons on me and several others…" Shikamaru groaned, rubbing the back of his neck in annoyance.

Naruto looked behind Shikamaru to see the same people the Nara had brought along from his new school. A lot of them like they just spent the entire morning fighting against Team Guy… that would explain a lot. "Are you guys going to get a late breakfast?"

"Yeah, we might end up going to get BBQ at Choji's aunt's place." Shikamaru replied, he walked over and swung an arm over Naruto's shoulders and leaned his weight towards him. Naruto's eyes widened when he felt as if Shikamaru expected him to carry him to the BBQ place. "Carry me. Too tired for this crap."

Naruto rolled his eyes, he grabbed hold of Shikamaru's left arm and swung it over himself while putting his own arm around the Nara's waist to get a better grip on him. "The only reason I'm not dropping you is because you are paying for my bill."

"Whatever. More walking, less talking." Shikamaru said, forcing Naruto to more or less to carry him. He wasn't kidding when he said he's tired but there will be time for him to rest at a later time. Right now, he needs to talk to Naruto. "How have you been? I've heard that the elders are keeping a close eye on you."

"…I hate it. Sakura left for a month before they forced her to return to keep an eye on me after I had a training accident which they mistook as me trying to leave the village." Naruto muttered, his entire mood drooped at the memory. "I hate it and with the threat of the rest Akatsuki, Orochimaru and who knows who else after the village and myself… it is only making it worse. I'm glad… you're here."

"Good to know… I take it Sakura has been keeping you in the dark, right?"

"Yeah…"

"…Okay. We'll get ramen later tonight with my dad and my uncles. It's time we talk."

"We also need to talk about your kidnapping… I'm still not convinced you're okay after all that."

"…fine."

-.-

"Shikamaru is Naruto's best friend." Choji said, as he, Ino, Team Guy and the U.A. students followed Shikamaru and Naruto. "Don't be surprised if you see Naruto during our training secessions. You guys might even get a chance to spar against him."

At a glance, Naruto didn't look like much but after seeing Rock Lee in action, it made the U.A. students wonder how strong he could be. Especially after hearing Rock Lee going on about how strong Naruto is and that the only time he had ever defeated the blonde is when he did his ultimate move and not using his weights. Even then, it was a challenge for Lee to fight against Naruto.

"How fucking powerful is he?" Katsuki demanded, causing some to groan or shoot him a look. He ignored it all, he just wanted to know how strong Naruto Uzumaki is and to see if he's worth his time. "Well?"

"That's the thing… Naruto is a wild card; we just don't know what is his quirk."

-.-

"The only people around I was able to train with were Kakashi-sensei, Shikaku-sama and whoever visited me during the past couple of months." Naruto explained after eating a plate full of barbequed meat. He reached over and took some raw meat from a plate and placed it in the middle where one could grill the meat. All the while shooting Choji warning glares to stay away from his food. "I… I haven't done much else. They've been keeping a close eye on me."

"Sakura? Sai? I heard that they returned back to the village not even a month out." Shikamaru questioned, with an eyebrow raised. His brows furrowed at how Naruto appeared to curl into himself at the question, his fox liked ears drooped massively to emphasize his mood. With a heavy sigh, reached out and placed on top of Naruto's head. "You know that if you want to talk to me, just go visit my folks. Hell, if you're hungry, I bet my mom will cook you up something."

At that, Naruto's face turned bright red. "Your mom has actually raided my apartment and made sure I have healthy food at my disposal. Along with making sure that I eat at her place at least three times a week."

Shikamaru paused before he let out a tired sigh. He retracted his arm to scratch the back of his neck. "Of course she has… I asked her to."

"…Then why are you telling me then!" Naruto accused, his ears perked along with his tails rose.

"Would you have gone earlier if I had told you?" Shikamaru asked, quirking an eyebrow at the blonde. He smirked when Naruto visibly deflated as he flipped the meat on the grill. "Well?"

"Shut up." Naruto grumbled, he quickly took the meat off the grill and transferred it over to his place. He looked down the table to see everyone chatting away, well, some of them were. Some where shouting or cursing others out, then the occasional physical violence. This did not help with his mood, if anything, it made Naruto feel more left out than before. "…"

Taking note of Naruto's shift in his mood, Shikamaru looked around the table before he pointed over at Izuku. "See that kid over there? The one that has to train with Lee."

"Yeah, what about him?" Naruto asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"He has a massive fascination with heroes that could rival yours."

"…OI! You! Yes, you! Come here! We have to talk!"

-.-

The first thing he could feel… is that he no longer felt the stinging pain everytime he breathes. Toshinori slowly opened his eyes and found himself in a dimly lit hospital room. It was nothing out of the norm for him really, but this time, it was anything but the norm.

'Am I alive?'

'Did I survive the surgery?'

'I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead…'

A low whistle interrupted Toshinori's thoughts, he looked over to see Lady Tsunade standing by the door with a smirk playing on her lips. The head of the hospital walked over to her patient to take a look over at his charts. "You're improving. You don't look like a walking corpse anymore. I think we shaved off several years off you. You can thank me later."

"…what."

TBC.


	25. Chapter 25

Koi-Koi

-.-

D/C: I own nothing

-.-

"Sakura is now ignoring me." Naruto mentioned over dinner the following day. Last night, Naruto, Shikamaru and the older InoShikaCho out for ramen. Naruto had told the others his time in the village in the last couple of months and dealing with being under a tight watch. Namely how Sakura and Sai were made to return to the village to watch over him and how, mainly Sakura, have been keeping him in the dark. About everything. Then acting dense whenever he would question her about it.

Shikamaru looked over at Naruto, eyebrow raised. "Huh? Really…"

"…what did your dad say to her?"

Shikamaru mulled over his words. At around lunch time, he did take notice that Sakura looked completely ragged as she made a last-minute shopping trip. When she saw him, she shot him a glare before walking away in a huff. This of course got him to go seek out Ino, who he knows, the pinkette told everything to. What he got… apparently was that Sakura was indeed miffed having to come back to the village to deal with you and be a glorified babysitter. Apparently, Tsunade just wanted to keep an eye on you. But the elders told her to make sure you do not run off and do something stupid. Then Kakashi-sensei added more to it, and it all got to the point of her just not saying anything to you."

"…and she didn't ask Granny what she could and could not tell me?"

"Nope. Ino told Sakura she should have confirmed what she could and could not say to you. By the end of it, it was agreed that Sakura needs to take some time off from being your babysitter and what else… I don't know…" Shikamaru scratched his chin in thought. "I think she was just upset about how you apparently decided to go chase after Sasuke on your own."

"…I wasn't."

"I know."

-.-

Toshinori couldn't believe what he's seeing in the mirror. His reflection reflects back an older vision of his younger self. No more feeling the need to puke out blood every other minute. The constant pain that comes with not having several organs.

He… he looks a lot like he was before the supposed last fight with AFO. He looked healthy, lean but not muscular. Maybe he could change that? It'll depend on what Lady Tsunade says about that. It's just… Toshinori wonders if this would have been how he would have looked like now if he never sustained such damaged against AFO.

So many what ifs…

-.-

Izuku fell backwards onto his assigned futon, letting out a groan of pain as he felt several bones pop back into place. Another day of training and this time around, they trained with Team Kurenai. From what Shikamaru had previously told him and what he learned today. The team was specially created as a search and rescue, reconnaissance and some other things that's currently escaping his mind right now. The goal of today was to not get captured.

What many of them did, himself included, fought them head on. This proved to be a mistake. Team Kurenai may not be like Team Guy, but they could most certainly hold their own… Kiba and his canine companion, Akamaru, provided enough strength and distraction to allow his teammates to take down those that went up against them head on. Hinata, having a very similar quirk to her cousin but nimbler on her feet, was able to almost dance around them and paralyze them in her wake. Those that did not get paralyzed by her, were faced with the dilemma of having to deal with Shino's bugs. Which liked to take the lifeforce of a human being… Their quirks may not be the strongest, but with what they are trained to do, it's perfect.

The only issue with this, is that nearly everyone failed today's task. The goal was to never fight. It was to learn to better hide themselves…

If only he could regain usage of both hands so that he could write all of this down…

"You okay there, Midoriya?" Hitoshi called out from the other side of the room.

"…I really wish I could feel my arms again."

-.-

Naruto stretched as he waited for Shikamaru's classmates to arrive for another day of training. It's his turn to take on the U.A. students and it'll be him vs. them. He'll have to be careful using his quirks against them. The last thing he needed is to accidentally maim one of them and he'll have to face Granny's wrath. Dressed in a fitted orange and black tracksuit, with short-sleeved red coat with a black flame pattern around the hem. It's a more relaxed version of his hero outfit, but the last thing he wanted is to destroy it during training. Tenten is still rather miffed the last time he accidentally left several tag bombs in said suit when he brought it in for a daily inspection…

In all honesty, he forgot about said tags.

Naruto's ear twitched at the sound of someone calling out his name. He turned his head towards the source of the sound. By the sounds of it, they are finally here. About time… his tails twitched in anticipation. With a swish of his tails, several poofs of smoke appeared around Naruto and once they dissipate, to reveal several clones of himself.

-.-

"Today's goal… find the original."

"Original?" Everyone echoed.

Shikamaru let out a yawn, really regretting getting up so early that day. "Naruto's quirk… is Cloning. He's able to make several clones of himself. I would be careful though… he's a highly known prankster that has a notorious reputation within the village. Don't fall for his traps. It'll be a drag to find you if you did."

-.-

-Boom-

"DAMMIT, BAKUGO!"

"THAT WASN'T ME, YOU FREAKING EXTRA! SH-RUN!"

-Boom-

TBC.


End file.
